Slashdot Mirror
Enzyme Computer Could Live Inside You
dylanduck writes "New Scientist reports the creation of an enzyme-based computer that performs AND and XOR calculations, and combinations of the two, based on the presence or absence of specific chemicals. If they can be engineered inside living cells, they could measure a patient's metabolism and deliver just the right amount of drug at just the right spot, the researchers reckon. I'm worried about the viruses." Ba-dump *chink*.
Core Dump takes on new meaning..
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
enzyme computer live inside you!
Oh wait...
will it run Linux?
Funny sigs make your Karma go down.
My guess is that they instinctively think "Ooh, it's made of enzymes, instead of all that nasty enzymes and electricity, so it must be better to put in people." But then we've been putting pacemakers etc. in people for years without any problems. And if they're suggesting that these wouldn't be self-enclosed units and would actually interact with actual human enzymes that may come and go as they please... then they've got a lot of contingency planning and 'wiring' work to do...
I don't see this having any real impact for a long while yet.
My, that was a yummy potato!
... that Microsoft might enter this business. Would give a whole new meaning to Blue Screen Of Death ...
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
I think it is called the brain. Although it might work a little bit differently that what they are doing.
Blood Music by Greg Bear?
In it someone's "enzyme computers" got too smart.
I'm not worried about viruses. I'm worried about hackers or these in the wrong hands. >.>
"Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
I had a brain storm about an idea for a sci-fi short story in which a team of college grads figure out a way to turn their dna into computers. This would enable them to form huds in their mind and use their brains for neural computers instead of say... Cybernetic implants...
Then one student learns how to break the code and then start to modify all his DNA and becomes a superbeast consuming all life and then the good guy nerd transforms into some physic dragon ball-esque character (who can also modify his dna to turn into a female supermodel) and fights it out in an anti-clamtic battle and then my story goes down hill from there... So I sort of never bothered to even to try to start writing down the story.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
If Day=Friday AND time="5:30:00" then Deliver_Beer() Function Deliver_Beer() If Bank_Balance > $300.00 then Beer="Sam Adams Boston Lager" Else Beer = "Stroh's" Endif end Function
Forget viruses... I'm more concerned with software bugs. You think the Pentium Pro floating point errors were bad? Try developing a nervous twitch or not being able to walk because of some software engineer's typo...
"Hello world" program requires ZERO lines of code. Textbooks all one chapter shorter.
Don't tell Microsoft, or pretty soon we'll all be crashing the spin cycle.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
This could lead to some great human programming! Think about it!
.NET yogurt because it's too difficult to swallow.
:)
New GEEK YOGURT with Enzymatic-Action (TM)! Comes in new exciting arrangements!
Now you can become a Perl expert with our Perl Programming yogurt! Comes in the convenient beer flavor!
Our new BFG2000 yogurt with Hyper-Enzymatic-Action (TM) will help you to maintain focus and alertness during those long, overnight CS or BF2 sessions! Comes in Jolt and Penguin Mint flavors!
Our C++ yogurt doesn't come in one package but instead comes in several small packages that work together!
Our Increase Your Attractiveness To Girls yogurt is still in development, but we're working on it. It's not as easy as we thought.
We've given up on our
Increase your memory with our RAM super-enzymatic yogurt! Just remember that you'll need to eat a good helping of this every year or so as life's base requirements keep increasing.
Finally, our Microsoft yogurt with BSOD enzymes with help you to learn to do new and amazing things that you've been able to do for a long time with competitors' yogurts, but now you won't have the extra expense of buying theirs! (Why, no, that's not anti-competitive. Why do you ask?)
Hey, it's Friday. Gotta have some fun.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Raymond Wurzveil has been writing for years now on the coming merger of man and machine (as in his highly recommended book The Age of Spiritual Machines ). The general idea is that eventually our minds will be transferrable to silicon and external means of storage, but this idea of humans being augmented with biological computing is an interesting short-term solution. I wonder if he'll make some comment about it.
Someone better tell Steve that wearable computers are so passé.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The computer will be called CryptNet and will be used to calculate The Seed
I'd say Willner's thinking small (if you don't know who Willner is, then RTFA). Why make cures for sick people, when there are rich people out there who want to get fixed, too? I mean, if you can make a computer that would make you thin, or muscular, or change your hair colour permanently, or stop hair production in your legs... then go for it and make a ton of money. Heck I'd pay for something so that I didn't have to wax my back...
Worrisome, though, is the computer that you accidentally ingest that has a real bug, like, say, a Y2K bug (if that had actually been a big deal).
a beowulf cluster of these!
They are assaying some enzymes in vitro and are speaking of a "biological computer"? This is not really fascinating for a biology undergraduate like me.
"Protein engineering" is much more interesting! Customly made proteins which perform specific operations in the body of an organism.
Um, the basis of all computers is two gates that allow oposing actions. For example, a Not gate and an OR gate. (And=not(or(not(a),not(b)))) Everything else is built from these gates - so this is already more than enough to build a computer. (Not=xor(a,a)), (or=not(and(not(a),not(b))))
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
"Yes I know it is just a detail, but since we are all-grokking geeks we should hold ourselves to a higher standard."
Fan of "Stranger In A Strange Land" by robert a heilein, me too. that book actually changed the way I look at a lot of things.
anyways I am not worried about terrorists messing with this kind of thing cause the equipment it would take would most likely be far beyond that of a terrorist. nuclear power on the other hand is something rather easily attainable and for a terrorist much better option. a dirty bomb is way easier to make with almost no skill. where as coding a biological computer takee a whoe lot of education and training, from what i understand of it anyway.
WTF?
Hey who modded this parent down? All Soylent Green references should be instantly modded up +5 without hesitation.
in soviet russia... you assimilate the computer!
Now, with that out of the way: i'm wondering whether this can be turned to practical application in the near future with cancer treatments. How far away is this?
And what happens if the markers used go awry? How easy would it be to end up with the wrong dose in the wrong place? I know if this were being used on me, i'd only agree to be an 'early adopter' in one of two circumstances- illness with a high risk of fatality, in which case the risks of treatment would outweigh the risk of dying without it, and very minor complaints with very safe remedies, because that way the risks even in the even of misfire are still low.
That leaves a lot of room for serious illnesses to go untreated in the middle, so i'm going to be very curious to watch this technology and see what happens with it.
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
What's wrong with a Turing machine with a double-helix tape?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Yeah, how unstable would a system be that depended on random encouners with chemical substances? About as unstable, I imagine, as almost all life on Earth.
While in truth this isn't completely stable, it's still the best we're ever going to do in biological reprogramming, so we need to start the work sometime. Sure beats having to rely on EM sensitive devices all the time.
If you overclock this computer, there's no reflashing the BIOS to recover.... Besides, LN2 isn't exactly good to be running though your cardiovascular system.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
Torrent needed for Ebola vaccine! Please hurry!
Just imagine if the average script kiddie could harness this technology with easily accessible tools to basically play god. Maybe that sounds cool to some people, but it sounds more like the potential death of mankind to me.
I mean, if you thought Spanish Fly and Roofies were a big deal on college campuses, just wait till you have people tailoring these substances to programmatically alter a woman's body chemistry in a way which makes the average Slashdot geek irresistable to all of the women on the planet.
Did anyone else read this and think, "I could be a Cylon?" ...
If i make a body part of mine run DeCSS and the Motion Picture Assho^H^Hociation of America® hears about it, will DMCA allow them to amputate it?
Google results:
ba dump chink: about 11,000 results. (Using ba-dump *chink* gets 242, putting quotes around it gets 39)
badump pisssh: No results. (Also no results for ba dump pisssh.)
I'm sorry, I think you lost this round. Better luck next time.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
I was looking into doing research into these and DNA computer systems when I first started looking into going to grad school a few years back. Essentially, things are still (after 5 years) only at the very basic levels. Work in vitro (outside the body, in a tube) isn't at the 'fully functional' level yet and until you can make a progammable style 'computer' that works in a tube...it's simply not ready to be put into a person where one error in genetic code could result in life threatening consequences.
And, once there...removal may be fairly difficult if something does go wrong. All in all...decades and decades away.
***Runtime Error 200 - Division by Zero***
hitchhiker's guide
Many forms of virus do in fact reproduce themselves by hijacking enzymatic processes in living cells. The idea of a virus subverting one of these computing systems would be a very real concern. The terminology appears to have come full circle.
The complexity of biochemical pathways has to do with differential concentrations of substrates and products. These enzyme logic systems sound like they have the potential to "light up" cascades of cellular "output". Very cool tools, from a research perspective.
Perhaps this technology could be used to examine some of these pathways in more detail: Cellular metabolism - gluconeogenesis, citric acid cycle, stuff going on in mitochondria and chloroplasts, diabetes, etc.
Cancer - Pathways of loss/gain of function mutations which result in tumor formation
Make no mistake - systems like these have the potential to "hack the cell" in a much more standardized fashion.
where'll they put the fan? Wait, I don't want to know.
The team built their computer using two enzymes - glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) They built it using horseradish? O_o
enzyme activity isn't completely binary.
"If we can just create a complex system in the human body that monitors status and catalyzes restorative chemical responses we might really have something!"
"Uhm...sir? I asked the French, and they said they've already got one."
"WHAT? What did they say?"
"That they...that they already have one, sir."
"Well ask them if we can see it?"
"I did, sir."
"What did they say?"
"They laughed at me and then they threw vegetables and chickens at me. Then they said, we already have one, too."
XOR(a,a) != NOT(a),
XOR(a,TRUE) == NOT(a)
You don't need two types of gates.
NAND gates alone are logically complete.
NOT(a) == NAND(a,a)
AND(a,b) == (NOT(NAND(a,b)))
OR(a,b) == (NAND(NOT(a),NOT(b)))
Play Command HQ online
This certainly gives Windows Personal Edition a whole new meaning.
How many new users will attempt to install DOS programs on their new biological operating system. After all, the programs are supported by Windows ME.
I want to see the first enzyme brain logger... now you can't even think about your password without being vulnerable.
Spyware Bio Edition: It not only knows what websites you've been too, it knows what you've eaten for dinner.
Sales line: "Not only can it balance your checkbook, it can also brush your teeth!"
I'm going to hate to see the first freeware alarm clock... Agh! System error! Now I have to change my friggin sheets.
Whoops! I was thinking nor, not xor - my mistake. I just wanted to point out that this is really all you need, providing that it is cascadable with a fan out greater than one (one output can drive at least two inputs).
For those that care, binary addition of A and B into C1 and C0 is C0=AND(OR(A,B),NOT(AND(A,B))), C1=AND(a,b)
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
Much like gates in computers, enzymes can have certain thresholds where they activate. However, unlike computers, enzymes can be made to react sooner under different conditions, e.g. heat, cofactors, coenzymes.
Suppose a drug is implemented and given an enzymatic computer to trigger when it should be released. How do we know this will work across all of human physiology given the aforementioned factors that can alter the threshold of execution?
I'm skeptical that about this idea, but curious about how it could be implemented. I don't foresee it used in the near future.
Choo-choo BLAM!
I mean, who would go for chemicals when you have a *processor* putting those nuts to work? I don't know much about this issue, but I would imagine any tinkering in this particular area will lead to catastrophe. Just think:
Cell A: Ejaculation initiated.
Cell B: All processing threads halted, stand-by for eject.
Cell A: Freeeeeeeeedoooooooooooom!
I was going to say, isn't "chink" a racial slur??
Racist bastards!
maybe this is how the borgs started
Diabetes checks would be radically simplified, imagine an age without blood sugar sticks. For sexually transmitted diseases, perhaps a computer could be created to tell you if you had one of the (n) most common ones the morning after. Patients with hypertension would always have blood pressure monitors, and those with heart disease would know what theier status was at the check of a computer.
If it's not used for tracking or behavior-monitoring purposes, I say it could be a very handy tool for patient and doc alike.
As long as there is a Second Amendment, there will always be a First Amendment.
From the FAQ:
Neat comic strip by Drew Endy: http://mit.edu/endy/www/scraps/comic/AiSB.vol1.pdf
Apologies, pished, but after someone spotted that there was more RNA interacting in the body than DNA it was messenger for; why aren't people noting that we already run bio-computation devices.
Forget the why, we're already lousy at that bit. Why not? If there's a gain for little loss, nature tends to grasp and experiment along those courses. An RNA computer that computes and records in next-gen DNA is an ultimatley sensible thing for Nature to do. Not that hard either.
Never mind the gigantic neural hash lookup algorithm that we call intuition...
Humans annoy me. They won't accept there's a question *until* they have an answer.
Pfah!
*Hic*
I think most people criticizing this article are completely missing the point. The computer based on enzymes is not being built to compete with your desktop. It doesn't matter if its basis is unstable and slow. Bsw149 attempted to make this point but was mostly ignored.
-Imagine your cells in a certain organ system alerting you that the concentration of a needed medicine has fallen too low.
-Someone with Diabetes could get a read out of sugar concentrations without taking a blood sample.
From the article it definitely seems anything useful is a long way off... But I'm guessing the people involved aren't looking for a way to get more fps out of quake.
In aluminum foil companies - it's not just about the hats anymore!
Take the 90-Day Challenge! http://rwmurker.bodybyvi.com/
you live inside enzyme computers?
Has the answer "forty-two" been decoded yet? If not, then yes we do live inside a computer. And given that our brains run on enzymes...
Could be at that. Might have to fit it with a fan. Where to put the fan could be a problem - except in Soviet Russia, of course.
How many beans make five, anyhow ?
OMG you mean that ? Bill Gates is not inevitable ?
How many beans make five, anyhow ?