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Manoil
Wastelander's Nightmare
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 3504
Location: Behind your Chair
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Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:07 am |
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[ Bioengineering -> Article ]
Part of a new wave of engineering artificial organisms (that at least appear to be emulating life perfectly), the folks at Harvard and Caltech have turned inanimate silicone and cardiac muscle cultures into a living, swimming jellyfish. Well, living only in the sense that it moves without stimuli. Either way, shit's gone mad, yo.
The finding serves as a proof of concept for reverse engineering a variety of muscular organs and simple life forms. It also suggests a broader definition of what counts as synthetic life in an emerging field that has primarily focused on replicating life's building blocks.
The researchers' method for building the tissue-engineered jellyfish, dubbed "Medusoid," was published in a Nature Biotechnology paper on July 22.
An expert in cell- and tissue-powered actuators, coauthor Kevin Kit Parker has previously demonstrated bioengineered constructs that can grip, pump, and even walk. The inspiration to raise the bar and mimic a jellyfish came out of his own frustration with the state of the cardiac field.
Similar to the way a human heart moves blood throughout the body, jellyfish propel themselves through the water by pumping. In figuring out how to take apart and then rebuild the primary motor function of a jellyfish, the aim was to gain new insights into how such pumps really worked.
"Grip, pump, and walk"? Sounds sexy.
The article continues here.
Spotted @ ScienceDaily |
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Manoil
Wastelander's Nightmare
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 3504
Location: Behind your Chair
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Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:31 pm |
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If it stands to reason that in emulating standard muscle functions and low-level brain activity with AI, that we could replace endangered/rare organisms with constructs, what does that mean for artificial life? Or even natural life? I would imagine the extinction of natural life with a replacement of inorganic creatures to be very :Megaman: |
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SenisterDenister
250 Posts til Somewhere
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
Posts: 2764
Location: Cackalackyland
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:15 am |
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That's not how nature works though. |
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Manoil
Wastelander's Nightmare
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 3504
Location: Behind your Chair
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:39 am |
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Well, obviously. But the question stands: what foreseeable impact could this have, if implemented in other places? |
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Blargh
Überkommando
Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 6181
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:47 am |
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Perhaps now I can have a pet unicorn. A murderous one.  |
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Manoil
Wastelander's Nightmare
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 3504
Location: Behind your Chair
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:02 am |
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Do you ever dabble in Minecraft, Sir Blargh? |
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Blargh
Überkommando
Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 6181
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:04 am |
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No longer, due to the jealous nature of lego. |
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Manoil
Wastelander's Nightmare
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 3504
Location: Behind your Chair
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:29 pm |
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Hahahah, okay. Much of my spare time has been in there, treating it as a digital zen garden to maintain my sanity. Couple really great mods have diversified the world tenfold without removing my ability to play online. Pretty great. |
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jimmypneumatic
Vault Elite
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 391
Location: Always pushes 'a' first
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Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:46 pm |
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If they can do this, and made a microscopic nano tech bass guitar in 1997 or w/e... who knows how much of our higher brain functions are already controlled by the 1% with nanotech?
/tinfoilhat |
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VasikkA
No more Tuna
Joined: 15 Jun 2002
Posts: 8723
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Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:57 am |
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jimmypneumatic
Vault Elite
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 391
Location: Always pushes 'a' first
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Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:22 am |
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@VasikkA
Would you prefer an article on silicone orgasms?
I'm sure google is overflowing with those. |
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Redeye
Devil times three go climb a tree
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 3909
Location: filth
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Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:32 am |
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Megatron
Mamma's Gang member
Joined: 19 Apr 2002
Posts: 7705
Location: groovy
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Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:53 pm |
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****I dont believe this, but i got chill bumps …….
A SCARY WAY TO BREAK UP!!!!! DO NOT stop reading this or something bad will happen!!!!!!!!
One day, Sarah was walking home from school when her boyfriend drove by and honked at her to get in. She got in his car and he drove her to the lake. Her boyfriend said he was going to tell her something very important.
Sarah could have sworn he was going to propose. However, he flicked her off, pushed her in the lake and yelled, “I am breaking up with you, you awful …….!! I hate you and I think that maybe you should just end your ………….. life! DUMB ………………..!!!”
He laughed and drove off. It was a very cold day. Sarah climbed out of the lake, freezing cold, and feeling the worst she had in her entire life. She got home went in a hot bath, and slit her wrists and died in the bathtub.
Her parents yelled and screamed at her to get out until they finally broke the door down. They saw no body, but the entire bathroom was dripping with her blood. Her mom went insane and killed herself three days later, her dad is in prison, accused of murder.
Later that week, Sarah’s exboyfriend was taking a shower when she came from the drain, rotting and bloody, with a razor in her hand and said “Goodbye Jason.” She cut his throat before he could scream.
If you do not repost this with the title “1 scary way to break up”, you are a heartless …………..and Sarah come to you in the shower from the drain, and will kill you the same way she killed her boyfriend. 24 ppl have broken this chain and died
You have 13 minutes |
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S4ur0n27
Mamma's Gang member
Joined: 01 Jun 2002
Posts: 15013
Location: Outremont
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Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:33 pm |
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Can't stop looking at this. |
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