As such, they replicate without truly reproducing in the biological sense. Strangely, xenobot “offspring” are made in their parents’ image, but are not made of or from them. Xenobots could also inspire art and new perspectives on life. They might contribute to regenerative medicine or cancer therapy. They might help address health problems in humans, animals and the environment. The researchers who created the new xenobots say their main value is in demonstrating advances in biology, AI and robotics.įuture robots made from organic materials might be more eco-friendly, because they could be designed to decompose rather than persist. Although the synthetic virus was confined to a lab, it was able to infect and kill mice. In 2002, without the help of AI, an artificial polio virus created from tailor-made DNA sequences became capable of self-replication. He envisaged nanobots that replicated incessantly and devoured their surroundings, transforming everything into a sludge made of themselves.Īlthough Drexler subsequently regretted coining the term, his thought experiment has frequently been used to warn about the risks of developing new biological matter. In 1966, the influential mathematician John Von Neumann discussed “ self-reproducing automata”.įamously, Eric Drexler, the US engineer credited with founding the field of “nanotechnology”, referred to the potential of “grey goo” in his 1986 book Engines of Creation. Is this as much of a Pandora’s Box as it sounds?Ĭonceptually, human-designed self-replication is not new. The latest advance brings scientists a step closer to creating organisms that can self-replicate indefinitely. Ironically, the recently extinct Australian gastric-brooding frog uniquely gave birth to babies through its mouth. Instead, they fashion the groups of frog cells into the right shape, using their “mouths”. They can sustain this process for several generations.īut they don’t reproduce in a traditional biological sense. The new xenobots are a bit like Pac-Man – as they swim around they can gobble up other frog stem cells and assemble new xenobots just like themselves. But the latest xenobots have a crucial difference: this time, they can self-replicate. Like previous xenobots, they were created using artificial intelligence to virtually test billions of prototypes, sidestepping the lengthy trial-and-error process in the lab. Last week, the same team of biology, robotics and computer scientists unveiled a new kind of xenobot. They also showed a capacity to cooperate in swarms, for example by massing into groups. These included self-healing and longer life. Early xenobots survived for up to ten days.Ī second wave of xenobots, created in early 2021, showed unexpected new properties. These pioneer xenobots could move around in fluids, and scientists claimed they could be useful for monitoring radioactivity, pollutants, drugs or diseases. In 2020, scientists made global headlines by creating “ xenobots” – tiny “ programmable” living things made of several thousand frog stem cells.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |