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Enzyme Computer Could Live Inside You

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sign-me-up-when-i-can-have-a-nanobot-swarm dept.

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*.

21 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Ha! by qw(name) · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm worried about the viruses." Ba-dump *chink*.
    OMG, that was funny. It gives new meanign to "Safe Hex" from years gone by.
  2. In Related News by ReidMaynard · · Score: 2, Funny

    Core Dump takes on new meaning..

    --
    -- www.globaltics.net

    Political discussion for a new world

    1. Re:In Related News by EntropyEngine · · Score: 3, Funny

      Presumably then, when something goes badly wrong, you end up with the blue spleen of death...

  3. Yes, but ... by nmccart · · Score: 3, Funny

    will it run Linux?

    --
    Funny sigs make your Karma go down.
    1. Re:Yes, but ... by include($dysmas) · · Score: 3, Funny

      and, can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these things? oh wait....

    2. Re:Yes, but ... by nganju · · Score: 2, Funny

      More like "Yes, but will it run Linus?".

      --
      There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
  4. I dunno by dtsazza · · Score: 2, Insightful
    OK, so they've got a computer that works on enzymes, which is pretty clever. And from TFA:
    "This is basically a computer that could be integrated with the human body," Willner told New Scientist. "We feel you could implant an enzyme computer into the body and use it to calculate an entire metabolic pathway."
    But can't you do that already with standard computers (we can make them pretty small these days, so I'm told)?

    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!
    1. Re:I dunno by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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...

      Well, otherwise, what good are they? But you're quite right that this is very far off. I can imagine the technology being used to putter around with animals for years before it's a good idea to start screwing around with humans. The fact is that we just don't understand all that much about the basic functioning of some of these systems - or basically any of them - and so anything we do now would be just groping in the dark. That can be fun, but it can also be dangerous :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. I'm more worried ... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... 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.
    1. Re:I'm more worried ... by PFI_Optix · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just wait til Apple enters the market.

      It'll cost twice as much, and only models will be able to install it.

      (lol cliches)

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  6. Isn't there already one in your body? by LM741N · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think it is called the brain. Although it might work a little bit differently that what they are doing.

    1. Re:Isn't there already one in your body? by Intron · · Score: 2, Funny

      We have this, but we're still working on the DRM issues. Obviously, if you could have perfect memories of a concert, that would violate our copyrights.

      -- Sony

      --
      Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
  7. Old News... by Ancil · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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 already have one of these. It helps me to live, so I named it a "liver".
  8. Beer by i_am_the_r00t · · Score: 5, Funny

    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

  9. Human upgrades, here we come! by WidescreenFreak · · Score: 4, Funny

    This could lead to some great human programming! Think about it!

    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 .NET yogurt because it's too difficult to swallow.

    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.
    1. Re:Human upgrades, here we come! by Dolly_Llama · · Score: 3, Funny

      This would kill Open Source.

      Would you put the yogurt of some guy named Linus in your mouth?

      --

      Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan

  10. Kurzweil's vision by CRCulver · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  11. Re:Well, I see potential by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What they need is a protection system so that if the computer doesn't get regular external "handshakes", it'll shut itself down. (This is not for your safety, understand. This is so that the VIAA [Viagra Implant Association of America] can get its large licence fee.)

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  12. the world of synthetic biology by bleppie · · Score: 2, Informative
    Check out the world of synthetic biology

    From the FAQ:

    Synthetic biology studies how to build artificial biological systems for engineering applications, using many of the same tools and experimental techniques. But the work is fundamentally an engineering application of biological science, rather than an attempt to do more science. The focus is often on ways of taking parts of natural biological systems, characterizing and simplifying them, and using them as a component of a highly unnatural, engineered, biological system.

    Neat comic strip by Drew Endy: http://mit.edu/endy/www/scraps/comic/AiSB.vol1.pdf

  13. Excuse me, but you're already a DNA computer by the+Haldanian · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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*

  14. Missing the point by Tannor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.