Scientists Create Programmable Bacteria

wilmavanwyk writes "In research that further bridges the biological and digital world, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have created bacteria that can be programmed like a computer. Researchers built 'logic gates' – the building blocks of a circuit – out of genes and put them into E. coli bacteria strains. The logic gates mimic digital processing and form the basis of computational communication between cells, according to synthetic biologist Christopher A. Voigt."

Can't resist urge to make bad pun..,

[antifoidulus]

But how will they be able to find "bugs" in their program when the program is all bugs? Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, try the fish, the bacteria in it all programmed in Sea.... Oh I did it again!

I apologize profusely for whatever pain the above might have caused.

Re:Tinfoil Hat

[Anonymous Coward]

Take a deep breath.

People have been poisoning each other with both chemicals and bacteria for thousands of years; what you describe is no different.

Even the race thing. Each race is statistically more or less resistant to a given disease than others. Think smallpox in the Americas. And if you can't find a suitable genetic marker, just distribute your poison at a suitable gathering.

Police state devices can already be created with electronics.

As for these things taking over the world, they'd be out-competed by their wild cousins (the ones that aren't expending energy on computations that are of no direct use to them).