Add Bacteria To the List of Things That Can Run Doom (theregister.com) 41
An anonymous reader shares a report: In a somewhat groundbreaking yet bizarre scientific feat, MIT biotechnology PhD student researcher Lauren "Ren" Ramlan has coaxed a simulation of the humble E. coli bacteria into a rudimentary screen capable of displaying the iconic video game. However, before you get too excited about playing games in a petri dish, there's a catch. According to Ramlan's simulation, displaying a single frame of Doom on these bioluminescent bacteria -- should anyone attempt to do this with the real thing -- would take roughly 70 minutes, with a full reset to the bacteria's original state taking a whopping eight hours and 20 minutes.
Dubbed a step into the world of biological screens, Ramlan engineered a system where the bacteria would function as 1-bit pixels, toggling between light and dark states. This bio-display utilizes a well plate in a 32x48 array, each containing genetically modified E. coli that can be induced to fluoresce, creating a grid of pixel-like structures.
Dubbed a step into the world of biological screens, Ramlan engineered a system where the bacteria would function as 1-bit pixels, toggling between light and dark states. This bio-display utilizes a well plate in a 32x48 array, each containing genetically modified E. coli that can be induced to fluoresce, creating a grid of pixel-like structures.
First pass (Score:5, Informative)
- Doom isn't actually running on the cells. The cells are only acting as the display.
- The display is only on/off, no grey scale.
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- There is no actual display
- There are no actual gut bacterium
- The display was simulated for 1 frame
- The only frame generated was this: https://i.imgur.com/zef2jmQ.jp... [imgur.com]
- The simulation was some external library call
- It could've easily just been a timer ticking down how long it takes for the green fluorescent protein to express and fade
It'd be more accurate to say this is a simulated gut-bacteria fluorescent computer monitor, but even that's a stretch
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Still a better frame rate (Score:3)
This might explain ... (Score:2)
TL;DNR (Score:3)
Somebody laid out fluorescent bacteria in a pattern resembling the Doom screen. It's art, not science.
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Somebody laid out fluorescent bacteria in a pattern resembling the Doom screen. It's art, not science.
An artist, doesn’t have to first figure out how to make the paint work on the paper. So no, not the same thing.
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What's there to figure out? Do you even knew there are 8 year olds doing art with fluorescent bacteria? References: https://www.scienceinschool.or... [scienceinschool.org] https://www.sciencebuddies.org... [sciencebuddies.org]
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Thank you for clarifying that this should be considered the recorder of art and nothing even an artist would take seriously.
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Given that she identifies as a makeup artist online (I'm assuming there is only one LauRen Ramlan), I'm inclined to agree with your take. Interesting project, regardless.
Bacteria of Doom! (Score:3)
Yeah at 2.5 frames per day you'd feel doomed.
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Well, I was never all that keen on speed runs anyway.
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All of a sudden my 24fps rig isn't looking so bad.
imagine (Score:2)
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Tired of this story (Score:2)
Tired of this nonsense. Nothing was run on anything real, the simulation ran one frame, and that was just a grid of pixels where a few pixels were given simulated protein to make them fluoresce in the same grid as the first frame of the Doom title screen. It's like a high school science fair. You could get the same results by taking graph paper and dropping a droplet of food coloring on each cell that you want to represent fully white, then saying that the resultant blotch is the first frame of Doom.
The vid
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Exactly! Can't believe the number idiots buying into this story and saying it's bacteria running Doom. It's like printing out a screenshot of doom and then claiming my printer is running doom. Or drawing the screen on paper and saying my hand is running doom. The bacteria are not executing Doom game or even display code of any kind.
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"Using bacteria as a display device -- here's Doom!" would have been plenty cool.
Sobeody does not know what "run" means (Score:3)
Fuckup "journalist", no doubt.
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Clicks are all that matter to them
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Looks like it. How short-sighted.
Artist draws Doom screen with fluorescent bacteria (Score:1)
^^^^ There I fixed the title.
Nice (Score:2)
That's supposed to be the iconic title "DOOM" in the display, not mountains. I would have selected a different cutoff point for turning it to black and white pixels to form remotely readable letters, especially the holes in OO.
Pregnancy Test (Score:2)
DOOM did not run on a pregnancy test. That was a case mod where a different screen was stuffed into the shell.
Even so (Score:2)
I still call it 'sick'.
Groundbreaking tech, I tells ya (Score:1)
Fun watch (Score:1)