Biologist (Almost) Creates Artificial Life 539
Aditya Malik writes "Wired has an interesting story up about how a lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building 'protocells' from artificial molecules which are very close to satisfying the conditions for being 'alive.' 'Szostak's protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions, they could form a self-replicating, evolving system that satisfies the conditions of life, but isn't anything like life on earth now, but might represent life as it began or could exist elsewhere in the universe.' This obviously raises some questions about creationism, not to mention some scary bio-research-gone-wild scenarios."
Self Replicating? (Score:3, Funny)
I know they aren't really Von Neuman machines, but that phrase always puts me in mind of a replicator apocalypse...
Re:No, sorry (Score:1, Funny)
Questions about Creationism? (Score:5, Funny)
Let me guess... (Score:5, Funny)
He tried to create a phallic looking creature.
Do you hear that, sonny? (Score:3, Funny)
That's the sound of 100,000 /.ers trying to come up with the perfect obscure movie reference. We'd better get out of here before it gets ugly.
Too late...
Church of the White Coat (Score:1, Funny)
Shortly after their creation the cells formed a new religion declaring their white coated man God. Also that their world/petri dish was in fact flat and that on Sunday their God did in fact rest/got drunk and watched football.
Re:Questions about Creationism? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Self Replicating? (Score:3, Funny)
All organisms self replicate. Just because something is lab-made doesn't mean it would magically not be subject to evolutionary forces.
I.E if these little fellas were to multiply explosively, there would be a resulting population explosions of protocell eating amoebas, and an amoeba eating shrimp, and a shrimp eating whale, and finally Norwegians.
Re:Higgs Again (Score:3, Funny)
"Attempted murder, now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?"
- Sideshow Bob.
I have one of these (Score:3, Funny)
Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions, they could form a self-replicating, evolving system
It's called a Lava Lamp.
Re:Questions about Creationism? (Score:3, Funny)
Do you ever tell Jack off?
Umm. What? (Score:5, Funny)
As for the bioresearch gone wild scenarios: all advances in knowledge create the potential for trouble; but I suspect that it will be quite some time before any synthetic organism becomes much of a threat. The world outside is an incredible hostile place, crawling with microbes that have been slitting each others' throats in innumerable horrid ways for millennia. The interaction will be something like this:
[Synthetic wimp organism]:"Hi, I'm synthetic."
[Hardbitten wild bacterium]:"I fucking killed my own family over a nanogram of glucose."
[SWO]:*gulp*
[HWB]:"Hey, look, one of the thousands of antibiotic compounds secreted by fungi as part of the brutal chemical war of all against all."
[SWO]:*Dies horribly*
Re:Questions about Creationism? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Questions about Creationism? (Score:3, Funny)
Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things, right now: Jack and shit... and Jack just left town.
Re:So, this is what God must feel like (Score:3, Funny)
What, Canadian? Yeah, we knew that already, eh?
Re:Questions about Creationism? (Score:5, Funny)
Did you mean my uncle Jack? Because I once helped my uncle Jack off a horse.
Re:Interesting work (Score:5, Funny)
Male and female humans can rarely interact successfully (or at least satisfactorily).
Oh boy, are you doing it wrong!
Biologist (Almost) Creates Artificial Life (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Get your own dirt! (Score:3, Funny)
Hey, I try to win races against my 5 year old child all the time. I almost won the other day.
Comment removed (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Self Replicating? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No, sorry (Score:1, Funny)
AND have a soul. can a molecular biologist create a soul?
Re:Self Replicating? (Score:5, Funny)
God Wins Law (Score:3, Funny)
"As a Slashdot discussion on any scientific topic grows longer, the probability of it devolving into creationist-bashing fest approaches one."
Re:Created life vs evolved life? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Self Replicating? (Score:2, Funny)
Wow, I have mitochondria now? I just ticked 'Religion: Jedi' as a joke on that questionaire.
Oh, wait...
Re:Biologist (Almost) Creates Artificial Life (Score:2, Funny)