"Immortal Molecule" Evolves — How Close To Synthetic Life? 270
An anonymous reader writes with word of ongoing work at Scripps Research Institute: "Can life arise from nothing but a chaotic assortment of basic molecules? The answer is a lot closer following a series of ingenious experiments that have shown evolution at work in non-living molecules."
Re:what is a living molecule? (Score:1, Funny)
You are molecules. Do you live?
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I'm made up of molecules but as a whole I'm much more than just molecules. I'm Anonymous Coward!
The Blob (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Computational Beauty of Nature (Score:3, Funny)
No (Score:5, Funny)
It can't be true since God didn't make it. Obviously :)
Zombie Apocalypse Begins... (Score:2, Funny)
"They're just molecules, so they do what they do until they run out of substrate. And this will go for ever it's an immortal molecule, if you like, he told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science here in San Diego."
Later in the evening working alone, Dr DeSilva accidentally cut himself with an x-acto contaminated by his cultures. The RNA slowly overtook his own cellular composition, "blindly finding solutions that made them more successful". Ironically, he had unknowingly predicted his own end, "They do what they do until they run out of substrate". He (the self-replicating RNA by this time) was later to discover the best substrate was brainz...
And so the zombie apocalypse begins...
Sounds like... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:not as close as this first post (Score:5, Funny)
please evolve
Re:what is a living molecule? (Score:5, Funny)
Are these listed items AND'd together or OR'd?
Yes.
Re:Computational Beauty of Nature (Score:3, Funny)
This is what philosophy education buys you: you pay to learn to enjoy hearing yourself talk. ;-)
For what it's worth, I'm partial to the materialism.
Re:Computational Beauty of Nature (Score:3, Funny)
Damnit, I made a typo. Now I'm going to hell.
I think FSM would have forgiven you for the typo...
You should see how livid one I was interacting with became!
...but that sentence was just blasphemous.
Re:what is a living molecule? (Score:4, Funny)
Sure. Anything with nipples can live.
Re:Computational Beauty of Nature (Score:3, Funny)
I made a typo. Now I'm going to hell.
Oh jeez. They're letting everybody in these days.
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Re:what is a living molecule? (Score:4, Funny)
We are organized here, reproducing asexually (it's a work in progress), responding to posts...
I'm registered. therefore I am.
Re:Computational Beauty of Nature (Score:3, Funny)
When your only tool is a computer, everything looks like a computation.