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Making Computer Memory From a Virus
An Ac writes, "By coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco mosaic virus with platinum nanoparticles, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have created a transistor with very fast switching speed. They say it could eventually be used to make memory chips for MP3 players and digital cameras. A device fitted with such a virus-chip would access data much more quickly than one using flash memory."
This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"
Most would consider a virus to be non-living. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus
I am very sure that there are more than a few examples of things that grow but aren't alive. Though... I can't think of anything off the top of my head.
I just *knew* someone was going to bring something like this up. Scientifically, it is generally accepted that viruses are not alive. Check it out here. However, some people's intuition tells them that the virus appears to be alive... and so the question is not necessarily whether or not it is alive, but whether we need to redefine our parameters for life to include the virus. Our current definition excludes it.