Scientists Break Barrier to Creating Potential Therapeutic Molecules
Gene Related to Aging Plays Role in Stem Cell Differentiation
Life on Titan? New Clues to What's Consuming Hydrogen, Acetylene on Saturn's Moon
Could Life Survive on Mars? Yes, Expert Says
Showing posts with label synthetic life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label synthetic life. Show all posts
6/6/10
les nouvelles
5/21/10
12/7/09
les nouvelles
First Tourist Spaceship to Be Unveiled by Virgin Today
South Africa to Treat All HIV-Positive Babies
A Life of Its Own: Where will synthetic biology lead us?
Magnetic Nanoparticles To Simultaneously Diagnose, Monitor And Treat
Brain Waves Can 'Write' on a Computer in Early Tests, Researchers Show
Scientists develop pill that could spell an end to straighteners after identifying 'curly hair gene'
10/29/09
8/26/09
les nouvelles
Synthetic Genomic's Craig Venter says “synthetic life forms” by the end of the year; biofuels nano-reactors on the horizon?
There is a growing consensus (at least in Silicon Valley) that the information age is about to give way to the era of synthetic genetics.
WASHINGTON — NASA will test the powerful first stage of its new Ares moon rocket Thursday, a milestone in a program that has already spent $7 billion for a rocket that astronauts may never use.
New "Impossible" Planet May Be on a Death Spiral
Gene 'Fix' in Egg Prevents Inherited Diseases in Monkeys
8/18/09
7/23/09
les nouvelles
New Treatment For Receding Gums: No Pain, Lots Of Gain
Eye of cosmic storm blazes with black hole
The key ingredient is a growth factor known as neuregulin1 (NRG1).
regenerative medicine not through stem cells!
The Los Angeles Times reports on an "unprecedented feat" in stem cell research that was announced today.
reminded me a lot of synthetic life, although it's really not the same thing...
3/28/09
les nouvelles
Surprise supernova: Massive star explodes despite being 'too immature' to self-destruct
The look of love? Only if you manage a glance that lasts longer than 8.2 seconds
Please freeze me! How scores of middle-class British couples are hoping to buy immortality for just £10 a week
-> this culture has for some reason always painted cryogenics as the dominant form of life extension, yet to me it has seemed both inefficient and unplausable in the life extension industry.
British scientists on course to become the first to produce synthetic human blood
3/12/09
news
prosthetic eye camera
The plastic that repairs itself in the sun within half an hour
Astronauts forced to take refuge in escape pod after International Space Station comes under attack from junk
Nasa shuttle launch delayed due to 'potentially catastrophic gas leak'
I'll never forget the project that I did in 4th grade, in 1994, about space garbage...
Artificial life could be created ‘within five years’, researchers claimed.
Laboratories across the world are closing in on a second genesis - an achievement that would be one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of all time.
I'm seriously on the edge of my seat when it comes to synthetic lyfe... It really is one of the main things left to do... that and the life in other areas of the universe... and the equation for the universe...
Army of robots inspected at defence exhibition
It's such a tragedy that one of the main reasons robotic technology evolves is because of the large portion of money shuffled into defense spending... world peace would be cheaper for everyone.
Scientists develop mobile phone battery that can be charged in just 10 seconds
Politicians have failed to take on board the severe consequences of failing to cut world carbon emissions, according to Nicholas Stern, the economist commissioned by Gordon Brown to analyse the impact of climate change.
12/6/08
11/18/08
too bad I didn't go...
[SALT] Terms of biocontainment (Synthetic Biology debate) Inbox X
Stewart Brand to salt
show details 11:02 AM (8 hours ago)
Reply
"I want to develop tools that make biology easy to engineer," Drew Endy began. The first purpose is better understanding fundamental biological mechanisms through "learning by building." The toolkit of Synthetic Biology starts with DNA construction and ascends through DNA parts, to devices, to standardized systems. An organism's DNA code, and therefore the organism, can be digitally uploaded, stored, distributed, and downloaded. Life forms are programmable. So far 3,500 standard "BioBrick" parts have been developed for free distribution, and the number is growing geometrically. The number of amateur and student bioengineers also is growing geometicallly.
"There are 20,000 edible plant species," Endy noted. "At present we eat only 30." Synthetic biology can help diversify agriculture. Or how about engineering a gourd that can grow into a living house?
Endy concluded with five questions... Should teenagers practice genetic engineering? (Yes.) Should military weapons involve biotechnology? (No.) Should BioBrick parts be patented or freely shared? (Free.) Will biohackers be good or bad? (Good, if we help.) Should genetic engineers sign their work and publish it? (Yes.)
Jim Thomas asked Endy how he would defend against commercial interests locking up Synthetic Biology with patents? Endy said the best hope is building an open-source community that grows faster than businesses and out-innovates them.
Thomas began his statement by pointing out that it usually takes a whole generation to understand a new technology, so he urges moving slowly and cautiously, but Synthetic Biology is advancing at breakneck speed, and the window of opportunity to have effective public discussion and control is closing.
He cited the history of synthetic chemicals, which began in mid-19th century. The technology quickly became highly concentrated in an oligarchy of monopolistic companies, and then it was easliy commandeered by government in wartime. I.G. Farben supplied the poison gas for the death camps. "Powerful technology in an unjust world is likely to exacerbate the injustice."
Thomas said he worries when he hears comments like, "Anything that can be made by a plant can be made by a microbe." If that's played out, it means the death knell for everyone who works in agriculture, a vast economic restructuring. There's so much novelty coming so fast from Synthetic Biology, no predictive models or regulatory models can hold them. He recommends these new tools be strictly contained so there is no release of new life forms into the biosphere, and there should be no commercialization of the technology at all.
Endy asked Thomas if it's okay to make anything in a bioreactor vat? Thomas said, "Yes, beer."
For different reasons, both debaters wanted to see Synthetic Biology kept from domination by commercial patents. For Thomas, it would lead to unjust monopoly answering only to profit. For Endy, it would paralyze open-ended research.
--Stewart Brand
--
Stewart Brand -- sb@gbn.org
The Long Now Foundation - http://www.longnow.org
Seminars & downloads: http://www.longnow.org/projects/seminars/
6/21/08
notes
synthetic life = chemistry -> biology (in order to realize synthetic life, you have to go from chemistry to biology)
The current experiments include trying to synthesize a protocell, which has 2 main components
1. boundary (cell membrane)
2. genetic material
if the protocell can be made to grow and divide, synthetic life will be reality
half a dozen teams around the world including Harvard are working on this, it will be one of the greatest human achievements of all time. The media just started running stories about synthetic life in the past few months, so I'm so excited that they've already made reality tv about it!
But, since crystals and stars satisfy the definition of life (replication, metabolism, and evolution) do we still need to redefine exactly what life is? The same ingredients that made up life make up everything.
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