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Researchers Use DNA To Record a Cell's Life History

sciencehabit writes If cells could talk, they'd have quite a story to tell: Their life history would include what molecules they'd seen passing by, which signals they'd sent to neighbors, and how they'd grown and changed. Researchers haven't quite given cells a voice, but they have now furnished them with a memory of sorts—one that's designed to record bits of their life history over the span of several weeks. The new method uses strands of DNA to store the data in a way that scientists can then read. Eventually, it could turn cells into environmental sensors, enabling them to report on their exposure to particular chemicals, among other applications.

7 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Re:An idea from a novel written 30 years ago. by Hussman32 · · Score: 1

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Music_(novel)

    A good book, but IIRC, that was about sentient cells, not memory recording.

    --
    "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
  2. Raquel Welch reference by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    ...waited a long time to use it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...

  3. Re:An idea from a novel written 30 years ago. by Sowelu · · Score: 1

    Read that a couple years back, loved it--didn't realize it was so old. I definitely recommend it, it's fun to see a sci-fi book that takes its idea and just keeps running with it for a lot longer than you'd expect.

  4. Perfect for ratting you out to health insurance by uCallHimDrJ0NES · · Score: 1

    ...so they can deny your claim and get you turned into soylent faster! Go future, go!

    --
    Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
  5. Soon to be a basic tool of synthetic biology by Guppy · · Score: 1

    Ever try debugging without having something like a log-file available?

  6. a reprogrammable protein factory by wrench+turner · · Score: 1

    Let's hope the hackers don't get a hold of this.

    1. Re:a reprogrammable protein factory by boristdog · · Score: 1

      It will give "Terrorist Cell" a whole new meaning!