Synthetic Organisms: The Silicone Jellyfish
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Synthetic Organisms: The Silicone Jellyfish
<strong>[ Bioengineering -> Article ]</strong>
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.
<blockquote><p><em>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.</em></p></blockquote>
"Grip, pump, and walk"? Sounds sexy.
The article continues here.
Spotted @ ScienceDaily
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.
<blockquote><p><em>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.</em></p></blockquote>
"Grip, pump, and walk"? Sounds sexy.
The article continues here.
Spotted @ ScienceDaily
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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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The weather is unseasonably heavy with bastards.
Perhaps now I can have a pet unicorn. A murderous one.
WHERE'S A CUBE.
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So this pulsating 'thing' is made of silicone and muscle.
I don't see the novelty in that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xevW-QIyBnc
I don't see the novelty in that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xevW-QIyBnc
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BIOT:Manoil wrote: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:
Biological robot, a term used in the novel Rendezvous with Rama and its sequels, and later adopted by the authors of The New Jedi Order; see also Cyborg
Too bad it is only a disambiguation page.
All is not lost:
Synthetic Biology
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