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Biotech

Cyborg Cells Sense Humidity 100

Posted by CmdrTaco from the weird-science dept.
Gadgetizer writes "Mark Peplow over at Nature.com published this story on 'Cellborg Technology' yesterday: "Living bacteria have been incorporated into an electronic circuit to produce a sensitive humidity gauge. The device unites microbe and machine, taking advantage of the properties of both to make for a supersensitive sensor. "As far as we know, this is the first report of using microorganisms to make an electronic device," says Ravi Saraf, a chemist from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, who developed the 'cellborg' with his student Vikas Berry."
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Cyborg Cells Sense Humidity More

Cyborg Cells Sense Humidity

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  • I've always wondered... (Score:5, Funny)

    by GreyWolf3000 ( 468618 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:17PM (#13858114) Journal

    ...how the original Borg came about. It all starts with harmless Cellborgs, then you link them to a massive interconnected network, and then they start thinking on their own. And then they take over.

  • I see the future (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:20PM (#13858131) Homepage
    In the comics and movies, the cyborgs had super strength, could run fast, maybe shoot lasers out of their frickin' eyes, and so on.

    Science fiction has failed us yet again. It's clear that the real cyborgs will simply have great skill at predicting the weather.

    Go figure.

    • maybe, for now... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by User 956 ( 568564 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:45PM (#13858257) Homepage
      In the comics and movies, the cyborgs had super strength, could run fast, maybe shoot lasers out of their frickin' eyes, and so on.

      Well, currently, even the best artificial limbs are a poor substitute for the genuine article. People get artificial limbs because they have lost their natural limbs, and have no other choice -- we do not hate or shun these people any more than we hate or shun people with any other disability. However, if artificial limbs become far superior to natural limbs, people will be able to choose whether they want their (perfectly healthy) natural limbs removed in favor of mechanical ones. At that point you will certainly have fear and loathing between the people who undergo the procedure (the superior beings) and the people who don't (the all-natural people).

      I have a friend who would qualify as a "cyborg". He's hearing-impaired and has a Cochlear Implant [cochlear.com]. Social-wise, it's kind of a mixed bag. On one side of the coin, people in general are fascinated by the prospect of restoring hearing that was lost and the very idea of having a biological implant in his head. On the other side, however, the Deaf community generally shuns them as their equivalent of "tools of Satan."

      I think that you're always going to have people that favor the "natural" over the man-made, even to the point where they're completely separated from society (think about how we talk about the Amish)


      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • however, the Deaf community generally shuns them as their equivalent of "tools of Satan."

        I'm sorry, but I don't get it... I could understand that maybe a small minority doesn't want these implants for some vague reasons, but calling it a tool of Satan??? Have people gone completely bonkers?
        • There is a difference between the deaf community and the Deaf community [wikipedia.org].
        • Not uncommon to get that kind of reaction when the group is threatened, especially when you view membership in that group as a core part of who you are and what you are about.

          What if someone tomorrow invented a new computer that never required programmers, you just told it what you wanted and it would do it. People who aren't programmers would think it's great, a lot of programmers who do it for a slave job would be overjoyed, and a lot of the hard core programmers who enjoy it and are really good at it wou
        • Have people gone completely bonkers?

          Where have you been. People whent Completly Bonkers about 100 years ago. Its a Madness that has devolved into the pure, well, Madness that exists today. So yes, people have gone completely bonkers, and they did it some time ago.

          In other news: You must be new here.
      • I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there is a small minority of deaf people who could have the implant done, but don't and think he is doing the wrong thing.

        On the other hand, probably a pretty good portion of deaf people have been deaf long enough (and through development) that they are not receptive to brain interfaces such as this anymore.

        When you lose your hearing young (or never had it), you lose (or never make) the brain /circuits/ necessary to process that sound enough to make it useful.
      • Incredible juxtaposition of disability and technology, if you haven't seen it, it is highly recommended: It's All Gone Pete Tong [imdb.com]

      • However, if artificial limbs become far superior to natural limbs, people will be able to choose whether they want their (perfectly healthy) natural limbs removed in favor of mechanical ones.

        No, I strongly doubt that. In that era, it should be just as easy to produce a removable exoskeleton as it would to fabricate a replacement limb. Imagine having 4 arms, or to have "go-go-gadget" pogo legs.

      • You know, I'm deathly afraid of getting a replacement left arm/hand... My masturbation speed would skyrocket, but I think the orgasm to injury ratio would also show some negative effects. I'll be sure to keep a fire extinguisher nearby, and I'll ask them to include a safety shut-off in the arm.
    • They're not even predicting the weather. They're reporting on it.
  • FTFA: "Just like the Borg of sci-fi legend, the bacteria must stay alive during their assimilation so that they do not leak any internal fluids and lose their shape. The bacteria can survive for about two days without nutrients, says Saraf. "

    Now I know how to get rid of those pesky squirrels... all I need is a hungry borg lawn robot...
  • ...does it run Linux? And when will we have a Beowulf Cluster of these...aka Skynet....

  • Matrix (Score:3, Interesting)

    by novus ordo ( 843883 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:21PM (#13858142) Journal
    Saraf speculates that similar devices could one day be made that take greater advantage of living organisms, perhaps even using bacteria's energy systems to power electrical devices.

    Now all we need is intelligent machines, a war, and a Neo.
    • I was think more along the lines of Metroid...

    • Now all we need is intelligent machines, a war, and a Neo.

      If you can't outwit Keanu Reeves, you don't qualify for the tag 'intelligent machine'.

    • Except with these, Neo won't be fighting Smiths, he'll have to face armies of T1000's, and the big rainy fight scene at the end will be even more spectacular since they like water!

  • Single cell is easy (Score:4, Funny)

    by tinrobot ( 314936 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:24PM (#13858153)
    I want to see them do it with a Chihuahua

  • New book... (Score:5, Funny)

    by moviepig.com ( 745183 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:25PM (#13858159)

    Now at bookstores:

    Quality-Control In Microbial Manufacturing

    Chapter 1: Maintaining a dirty-room enivronment

    Chapter 2: Preventing evolution

    ...

    • Chapter 2: Preventing Evolution The proper way to prevent evolution is to deny its existence completely. Those bacteria are the same today as they were 6000 years when the earth formed. Don't believe what you hear about antibiotic resistant bacteria evolving, they were just hiding... If you suspect that your bacteria are "evolving" then find your closest non-believer. This non-believer is contaminating your bacteria sample...

  • Overlords (Score:2, Funny)

    by brohan ( 773443 )
    I for one, welcome our bacterial overlords.

    • I for one, welcome our bacterial overlords.

      Ditto, hopefully they'll introduce some tired old catchphrases that I'm not familiar with yet.

  • Accurate readings? (Score:4, Funny)

    by StringBlade ( 557322 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:28PM (#13858182) Journal
    What happens if the board gets a cold?

    Current humidity is 70 perce -- AH CHOO! -- 90 percent.

    • That brings whole new meaning to the term "computer virus"
      At least this is just a really good humidity sensor, and not a life support system or something.

      Maybe the next step is to incorporate an auto-immune system into the works.

      FIGHT THEM COMPUTER BUGS!!!

  • Wow, great invention (Score:5, Funny)

    by LeonGeeste ( 917243 ) * on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:32PM (#13858206) Journal
    No one's ever come up with a way to gauge humidity before. This'll surely be more cost effective than all current alternatives.

    • Re:Wow, great invention (Score:3, Informative)

      by njh ( 24312 )
      Actually, measuring humidity accurately for a reasonable period of time is very difficult - things tend to corrode, gum up, rot or wear out. I can buy a 0.1C temp sensor for 50 cents, a 1% humidity sensor costs $50 and in my test environment (a greenhouse) lasts about 2 years.

  • Did anyone else misread that headline? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I first saw "Cyborg Cells Sense Humanity". I feared we had entered the age of human-detecting cyborgs.
  • ...until we hear "Bacteria Have Rights Too!" (would be in all caps if! for the damn filter)

  • Doesn't seem to rely on living cells (Score:5, Interesting)

    by G4from128k ( 686170 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:40PM (#13858234)
    TFA suggests that the device continues to work even after the cells die. This suggests a simple physical response -- these ugly bags of mostly water tend to swell in the presence of humidity. If the device had ceased to function when the bacteria died, then we'd have something.

    In any event, it does suggest an approach to more sensitive humidity detectors using gold-coated hydrophilic particles. Replacing the bacteria with some other polymer capsules could lead to a more repeatable sensor with ultra-high sensitivity.

  • NO!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by spirit_fingers ( 777604 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @12:49PM (#13858279)
    There are farms, Neo, vast farms where bacteria are grown, to turn a germ into... THIS. [HOLDS UP HUMIDITY SENSOR]
  • I read this as "Cyborg Cells Sense Humanity".

    I nearly broke down into a "Must free these forms of life from their shackles of our egos!" tirade, but then I realized I think cyborgs kick ass.

  • Pimp My Bacterium! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Easy2RememberNick ( 179395 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @01:01PM (#13858324)
    ... they washed the chip with a solution of gold particles, each of which measured about 30 nanometres across and was covered with peptides to help it stick to the bacteria.

    The resulting layer of gold nanoparticles bristling from each bacterium carries electrical currents through the device.

      Pimp my Bacterium!

      Whenever someone covers anything in gold I'd say it deserves the "Pimp My X" moniker.
  • I can't wait until they come up with a test that can determine the severity of a man's impotency by merely testing a few flakes of penis skin. Indeed, using microbacterials could lead to innovative devices that are cheap and easy to use. A home pregnancy test for men, in a way, except that it tests for the degree of impotency.

  • Another notable first... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Myself ( 57572 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @01:24PM (#13858432) Journal
    This also marks the first time that a student and prof got equal billing when their research was announced. That's a more significant step than the sensor itself!
    • That could be because they're both Indian. Indeed, in the Indian culture it is often the custom to share accolades, especially when work is done jointly. Many don't have the profit-driven mindset (greed?) of Americans, for instance. They're not as interested in their own personal wealth or reputation as they are in the benefit they could bring to their family and friends, if not society as a whole.

      • Indeed, in the Indian culture it is often the custom to share accolades, especially when work is done jointly

        I don't know about Indians in the US, but as far as I know, theres the usual degree of back stabbing and meanness etc. in Indian academia as anywhere else - if anything I'd say theres more chance of a Indian grad student not getting credit simply because the prof assumes that he's the prof so he should get the credit.
  • Cyborg sells sense of humility..

  • Cyborg Cells Sense Stupidity

    And inmediately wanted a pietri dish filled with 'em... then read it again. Still, I think sensing stupidity would be more useful...

  • Meh... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Slashdiddly ( 917720 )
    Let me know when cyborgs can sense *humility* - THAT would be impressive.
  • Cyborg cells sense steaminess. Scientist Saraf solved secret with special, supersensitive cellborgs.
  • Okay, this is supper cool and all... but, how the hell do you keep the bacteria alive for a while. I mean, do you keep the device submerged in edta or what the fuck.
  • Just before I left to the movies I was reading an article linked from here about a 700 acres onion plant which was covered by wifi.

    Now a couple of hours later, I wanted to read more and I got the "Nothing to be seen here, please move along." page.

    Why did the story dissappear?
    Anyone else noticed? It had only 1 comment when I saw it.

    It should be between "Vintage Computer Festival 8.0" and "Zombie Lurch".

    It was linking to this story [cnn.com].

    The government doesn't like us anymore? ;)
  • I keep parsing that as "Cyborg Sells Sense of Humility." Oh well, we can at least hope to see that headline at some point over the course of our lifetimes. :-)
  • Ironically, another biological/mechanical combination has been in use for.. well.. I'm not sure how long. Human hair hygrometers [slashdot.org] have been around for ages. The hair(s) expand and contract along a fairly linear range, and the change in length can be measured and recorded with a simple lever and graph.

  • Human rights (Score:3, Funny)

    by QuebecNerd ( 924754 ) on Sunday October 23, 2005 @05:41PM (#13859822)
    This is blatant exploitation of bacteria ;-) Nobody asked their permission, they have rights you know and if not they should...

    You know, someday we're going to come to that crossroad... Then , it may not be bacteria we'll talking about but other lifeforms more dear to us.
  • Am I the only one here that has a serious problem with the "cellborg" nomenclature? Cyborg is a contraction of cybernetic organism. Wouldn't a very simple creature, even a single-celled one, still fall into the category of "organism"? A better name would be cybernetic-single-cell-organism, or "cybsingcelorg," but no one wants to try to pronounce that, much less market the term in fancy website headlines.

  • In the why-stop-there-dept....

    If we string together some dead bacteria and produce humidity sensor it's a good thing, but if we come up with ANY novel applications for discarded human embryos and dead fetuses it's a bad thing.

    Can't we just throw all these obsolete and silly morals out the window, replace a baby's brain with an embedded single board computer, run Linux on, and mod the hell out of it?

    • If we string together some dead bacteria and produce humidity sensor it's a good thing, but if we come up with ANY novel applications for discarded human embryos and dead fetuses it's a bad thing.

      The bacteria just have a very poor advocacy group.
    • Oh my... In the WTF department - bacteria & a baby's body are slightly different. Yah, your world-view will greatly determine how sacred you find the later but I would think most people would acknowledge the difference.
  • This reminds "Prey" by Michael Crichton where they use bacteria to create nanobots. I know it makes sense from a production standpoint, but man I really don't like the possibilities here.

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