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X Prizes for DNA, Nanotech, Autos, Education

Posted by Hemos on from the pushing-it-forward dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Larry Page and Craig Venter are now on the X Prize Board of Trustees, and Peter Diamandis, the man behind the $10 million space prize, said new X prizes are in the works for innovations in automobiles, education, nanotech and DNA reseach. Diamandis, from the article: "Why do we still drive cars that use an internal combustion engine and only get 30 miles per gallon? I think that we'll see some amazing achievements in this area." This is in addition to the foundation's incentive to completely decode the DNA of 100 or more people covered earlier on Slashdot."

9 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. "Decode DNA"? Oh really? DES or RSA? by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is in addition to the foundation's incentive to completely decode the DNA of 100 or more people covered earlier on Slashdot.
    If there's one thing that confuses me, it's why anyone ever uses the verb "decode" when speaking about DNA. Maybe it's just because it sounds cool and "sequence DNA" isn't quite as futuristic. Because that's all their asking for them to do--read the DNA into a form that reflects the ordering of G, T, A or C which are abbreviations for the different possible amino acids.

    Now, to "decode" that would mean that it's encrypted somehow, but it's not. It's there in strands in the center of a cell's nucleus. Maybe "extract" would work as a verb, but we're certainly not cracking any encryption. Do I use RSA encryption to protect my genes from you? No. Even if I did, they'd likely only have to crack it once unless everyone used separate public keys.

    What it would really mean to decode DNA would be to figure out what the sequence is actually telling us and we are a far far way from that. The sequence reveals the three letter nucleotides and these then reveal many different proteins that form upon folding. We need to find out which are junk, how recombination works, what defines a stop codon, which nucleotides form which proteins, understanding the C-value, etc. Once that happens, then we can start claiming we've decoded something. Please, people, its function is encrypted, not its sequence.

    When an X-prize is issued using this wording, it really makes me think twice if they really even know what they want done to win the prize. If you take it literally, that's awfully ambitious. Of course, there's no way to reverse the use of this word as I believe the media has made it a permanent house-hold phrase ...
    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. I thought every /.er knew the answer to this one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Why do we still drive cars that use an internal combustion engine and only get 30 miles per gallon?"

    Because the oil companies buy out/sue out any startup that attempts to make a practical electric car.

  3. education? by enjahova · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What kind of prize are they going to offer for education? I can see easily quantifiable results in the other areas, but does anyone know what they are thinking about in education?

    --
    "how can they call it a MINE if everything here is THEIRS?!?!" -Straight Jacket
  4. Answer: by localroger · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why do we still drive cars that use an internal combustion engine and only get 30 miles per gallon?

    Because cars have to conform to safety and performance standards that preclude making them too underpowered or too light. The compact cars we have now (which regularly do get 40-50 MPG) already fare badly in a collision with a pickup truck, much less a tractor trailer. When all cars are as solid as motorcycles, all cars will be as dangerous as motorcycles. When a car that is only as solid as a motorcycle also can't accelerate or keep up with the other traffic, it makes a motorcycle seem like a Cadillac by comparison. Or would you try the experiment of driving one of the participants in the Solar Challenge on an unrestricted road alongside normal vehicles?

    --
    Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
    1. Re:Answer: by dal20402 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      This is completely self-perpetuating, and your answer is just "There's nothing we can do about it."

      There is no reason a vehicle has to be 18 feet long and weigh 5000 pounds to be safe or perform adequately. They are that big because people like big vehicles, plain and simple. Why? Who knows. Probably a combination of 1) misguided feelings of safety and 2) dick size.

      Because of its superior responsiveness and its unwillingness to roll or tip, I feel far safer driving a 2500-pound Honda Civic with good tires than a monster Ford truck. Statistics on the frequency (as opposed to severity) of accidents not related to reckless/negligent driving bear my intuition out.

      Half the solution is to make the cost of driving large vehicles reflect their social cost, through increased gas taxes, registration fees based on vehicle weight, and requiring a CDL with the attendant fees and training for all trucks over 5000 lbs. or over 78" high. The other half of the solution is to convince people that driving your 200-pound self to the grocery store in a 5000-pound truck is stupid.

  5. A Different Kind of Goal by MankyD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One interesting thing about these goals is that we do not currently have even a solid hint of an idea as to how to solve them.

    While the Personal Spacecraft challenge was indeed a monumental feat, it was largely an engineering challenge. Humans have already sent themselves into space many times. The technology was there; humans have a fair understanding of chemical rocketry and aerodynamics.

    These new challenges are in a different league. No one has yet decoded that much human DNA that quickly. No one has made a [practical] vehicle that runs much above the 40 mpg mark (that I know of).

    These challenges represent not just break throughs in engineering, but in the fundamental knowledge that underpins them.

    --
    -dave
    http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
  6. ARRGH! Too much information! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...completely decode the DNA of 100 or more people covered earlier on Slashdot."

    I'm well aware the Japanese have a word for it, but please, no more stories about people covered in DNA.

  7. Re:Why not use renewable energy? by servognome · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Simple, with our current economy and infrastructure it is more profitable to very influential energy companies this way. And since our current President and Vice President are very close to these energy companies, you will see very little in the way of change.

    Actually the reason is with our current economy and infrastucture it was more profitable for EVERYBODY. Notice how people are now looking for alternatives to gas powered vehicles at the same time the oil companies are making record profits.
    When oil was cheap there was no incentive to look at alternatives, now that it's become more expensive there is a market demand for more efficient/alternative fuel vehicles.

    --
    D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  8. Re:I thought every /.er knew the answer to this on by OctoberSky · · Score: 4, Funny

    We need to enhance the moderation format to include "+1 Tinfoil Hat" Everytime we get some qusi-paranoid conspiracy theory we just mod it up +1 Tinfoil Hat, although the rest of the moderation system may get jealous because they will never be used...

    I blame Microsoft for the lack of this feature. I think it is a conspiracy between them and the NSA to keep us from expanding our Tinfoil Army.