Scientists Developed Artificial Structures That Can Self-Replicate 127
First time accepted submitter mphall21 writes "New York University scientists have developed artificial structures that can self-replicate, a process that has the potential to yield new types of materials. In the natural world, self-replication is ubiquitous in all living entities, but artificial self-replication has been elusive. The new discovery is the first steps toward a general process for self-replication of a wide variety of arbitrarily designed seeds."
Re:self-replication is easy... (Score:5, Informative)
...if you are allowed to have complex raw materials.
Fire self replicates. Fallen-down dominoes self-replicate. The line between "chain reaction" and "self replication" is very blurry.
I don't think it's as blurry as you'd make it out to be. Fire and falling dominoes are instances of entropy , quite the opposite of what these scientists are after, I believe.