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Part-Human, Part-Machine Transistor Devised
asukasoryu writes "Man and machine can now be linked more intimately than ever, according to a new article in the journal ACS Nano Letters. Scientists have embedded a nano-sized transistor inside a cell-like membrane and powered it using the cell's own fuel. To create the implanted circuit, the UC scientists combined a carbon nanotube transistor, lipid bilayer coating, ion pump, and ATP. The ion pump changes the electrical charge inside the cell, which then changes the electrical charge going through the transistor, which the scientists could measure and monitor."
Everyone add the tag, Cylons to this one. :-D
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
I was a long-time OpenBSD user since the 3.1 days, and cut my teeth on Unix development there. I was attracted by its focus on security and conscientious coding practices. I was happy through the early 4.x days, but the more I got involved in developing for OpenBSD the more I was dissuaded from doing so.
Part of the issue was this focus on security. After I began to use OpenBSD at home and at work in earnest, I realized that it was limited in hardware support compared to other operating systems. I purchased a new workstation and portable within a year of each other, and both times came to some unhappy realizations about OpenBSD support.
I began to seriously look at Linux and FreeBSD at this point, knowing hardware support was much more robust. (I had also looked at NetBSD, but even though it booted on nearly everything, driver support was anemic.) I started to dual-boot FreeBSD on my workstation, and spent more and more time there. But it wasn't only hardware support that pushed me away from OpenBSD.
The FreeBSD development model is, to say the least, more sensible. Like I said, the more I got involved with OpenBSD development the more I was turned away, and that was mostly due to the project leader's attitude. During the run-up to OpenBSD 4.2, Theo de Raadt had been in a couple highly-publicized arguments with Linux developers, rubbing a ton of people the wrong way.
What many don't understand is that this was not an isolated incident. Try being an OpenBSD developer! These kind of scathing verbal assaults happened all of the time on the mailing lists. I wasand still am, actuallyunsure whether Theo doesn't give a shit due to some philosophical stance, or can't help it due to something like Asperger syndrome. In either case, he typically drags anyone he disagrees with over the coals, all while telling them to stop taking it personally.
I wish Theo had taken some of his own advice. I believe he has hurt the OpenBSD platform more than he has helped it, and I also firmly believe that hardware support in OpenBSD sucks not because of code auditing practices or security focus, but because Theo has either scared or purposefully chased away developers.
Long-time OpenBSD developers might migrate to FreeBSD or Darwin; newbies might try for Linux instead. Those who taste the de Raadt wrath, however, always run in the end. One time, a friend of mine incurred his ire by asking the wrong question at the wrong time, and Theo de Raadt hacked his router and remotely remapped his keyboard!
This is abuse, plain and simple, and Theo's relationship with his developers is abusive. I feel bad for anyone who has to engage him in real life, and fear something Reiser-like happening in the future. This controlling, manipulative attitude coupled with periodic violent outbursts indicates a deep-seated mental health issue that has gone unchecked for far too long. If you are an OpenBSD developer, watch your back!
After all this mess, I switched to FreeBSD 7.2 and never looked back. I upgraded to FreeBSD 7.3 and started using FreeBSD 8 as soon as it was in pre-release, and I am eagerly working on FreeBSD 8.1. I feel spoiled now, too, because of the throng of developers devoted to professionally working the FreeBSD platform into something spectacular instead of naggling over trivial matters or admonishing one another.
The thriving FreeBSD ecosystem contrasts sharply with the Jonestown-like atmosphere of OpenBSD. There is also the fact that no one person looms so largely over any other; ego is checked at the door in FreeBSD since the goal is to make a great operating system, not lord over others like David Karesh and a harem of 14-year-old girls.
Feel free to disagree with me or point out counter-examples; I would love to read them now that I have left OpenBSD. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the little secure operating system even though it leaves me with chills. I sometimes fondly load www.openbsd.org and read the latest release notes and smile wistfully.
It's okay to smile, now that I'm free from OpenBSD.
Resistance is futile.
Free Martian Whores!
I can't help but think of the borg here but I will give them the fact that it is rather ingenues. Hopefully they can generate enough power to do something useful without starving the cell in the future.
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. " -Voltaire
So they put a transister inside a cell membrane. How exactly does that make it part human? Every living creature has cells that have phospholipid bilayers.
My other sig is clever.
We can all devise. But only she can bop!
completely useless device that makes the user buy other useless devices starting with the letter "i"
It's not funny, trolly or interesting. What possible motivate did you have for posting it here? Is it an attempt at irony, given that you accuse Theo of being an aspie but then go off on some unprompted and off topic rant as if you are unable to comprehend basic social conventions?
So will this be the next weight loss method? If I am powering electronics it must come from burning calories correct?
fromy tHe sidelines,
Future devices could work just the opposite, where an outside electrical current could power the pump and alter how quickly ions are pumped into or out of a cell.
That has potentially far reaching effects assuming they can eventually find a way to install these things throughout the body (or even better just on targeted cells). You could install one of these devices on each cancer cell, for example, and power a pump that forced chemo drugs into the cells. That means that cancer cells would receive a much higher dose than non-cancer cells meaning less side effects and/or more effective treatments. Of course, there's a million problems to be solved before such a treatment could become reality, but the possibilities are endless.
Er, well this is Slashdot... but still: I'd rather not, thank-you very much.
"Man and machine can now be linked more intimately than ever" Interesting choice of words, have they never seen the picture that floated around the internet of the man in lingerie, um, "loving" his car's exhaust pipe?
And give up the one chance in you live to become a robotic overlord? WIRE ME! WIRE ME!
I wonder what kinds of numbers something like this could push. Tolerances? Forward / Reverse Bias, Beta values, Depletion region sizes, Breakdown voltages etc...Does anybody have a white-paper link or know if the data is published anywhere public? I am just curious as to how they go about verifying this constructs functionality as a transistor, be it giant simulators, or actual experimental observations.
In the future we will have multimeters / scopes that probe the body's..erm..wait...nvm.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
Overlord1: These brutish simple beings have finally yielded some light at the end of the tunnel.
Overlord2: Yes, but it will still be a few centuries to perfect, sell, and drive adoption before we can flip the switch and merge them into Overmind.
Overlord1: Ok - when can I see the Microsoft Project Plan?
L'esperienza de questa dolce vita (The experience of this sweet life) - Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
Imagine having a wrist calculator that was more reliable than a solar calculator, but you have to eat a bit more.
Let's reverse the flow. Imagine going outside into the sun, and not needing to eat for a day.
Of course, this turns the the whole weight-loss idea on its head. Sunbathing is the new binging: go to the beach paper-thin in your new bikini, and never leave because you've become too morbidly obese to move. Oops.
On the plus side, it could be sold as a cure for world hunger. Bonus points for being green if it makes people sterile in the process (your kids are your biggest carbon footprint, so just say yes to contraception).
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
OH Senate Passes Bill Banning Human-Anima... ah wait, this one's still legal in Ohio. Never mind.
...DIBS!!!
Clones are people two!
According to the actual article, there was no cell involved, only proteins resembling a cell wall. Nor was anything human mentioned.
In short, the article describes how they rapped a protein layer around the nano-transistor and it worked. Then it speculated on what it might be able to do in the future.
While powering a single transistor from the cell is interesting, a single transistor can only be on or off. Since, based on the data supplied in the article, there isn't a mechanism to trigger the on/off state, then it seems to be limited use.
Of more interest is the mention of the research done at the Hebrew University where they accomplished the same thing but by using enzymes that the cell ignored. The reason this is more interesting is that enzymes may be able to be tailored to work with specific cell functions, versus just being powered by the the cell.
BSD style.' In the Which allows series of debates To use the GNNA supplies to private distended. All I
Only a matter of time before we all have our own pc cpu installed inside ourselves and can interface and do a lot of work with our computers and the internet....need to check something up on google, use you interfaced keyboard that sends signals to your cpu, that is powered by your own thermal energy, then use your pc to hook up with the internet using a 3g chip implanted at the base of your neck, this will allow you to look up on google for all the p0rn you might need, and then send the signal back to your optical implant that allows you to visually see your pc screen inside your eyeball.....god i can't wait to see what p0rn will look like when that happens...will they still wear garder belts? what about stilletos?
Yes, the one that didn't FUCKING SUCK BALLS like you do.
GO TEAM EDWARD (JAMES OLMOS).
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
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Beyond this - is artificial life - or the transference of consciousness within machines and processors.
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Voting up, Voting down - If I really gave a fuck about your approval or not, I'd come and ask you.
I for one, welcome our new human based overlords.
The paper appeared in the journal Nano Letters, not to be confused with ACS Nano (although both journals belong to the American Chemical Society). Link: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl100499x
First they try to ban the teaching of evolution and now they want to ban actual intelligent design? MAKE UP YOUR MINDS ALREADY!
-Riskable
"Those who choose proprietary software will pay for their decision!"