Scientists Create Artificial Transistor Gates from E.Coli, DNA
Researchers at Imperial College in London have created biological logic gates similar to those used in integrated circuits using E.Coli bacteria and DNA.
"Logic gates are the fundamental building blocks in silicon circuitry that our entire digital age is based on," said Richard Kitney co-author of the research project recently published in the journal nature Communications. "Without them, we could not process digital information. Now that we have demonstrated that we can replicate these parts using bacteria and DNA, we hope that our work could lead to a new generation of biological processors, whose applications in information processing could be as important as their electronic equivalents."
According to a press release, the project group performed a successful test in which they showed that their biological gates can replicate the process that is equivalent to an electronic transistor gate that can be switched on and off. While Kitney said that his gates are the most advanced biological logic gates ever created, he conceded that they are not close to actually producing them for actual products.
The next step in the development are multiple gates in "more complex circuitry", which could one day lead to building blocks for "microscopic biological computers". Kitney envisions, for example, sensors that swim inside arteries, or even devices that detect and destroy cancer cells inside the body. There could also be pollution monitors that detect and kill "dangerous toxins such as arsenic".
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- research ,
- bacteria ,
- dna ,
- transistor-gate
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wooooooooow...
*stares with wide eyes*
How long till we make Jet Fuel with HIV ?
Holy crap! First we get an article about a system that can turn anything into a touch screen and now the building blocks of a biological computing age! Again, holy crap!
I'm envisioning this is how the Cylons got started. lol
watch out intel and your 3d transistor tech, here comes e.coli!
Well i guess this will end up giving a new meaning to "computer virus"
Awesome. Just awesome. The future is here.
Artificial transistor gates? So current transistors aren't artificial??
Probably meant to say produced in a different fashion than is usual :-)
I'd like to see Apple market their sheep-food with an A6 processor - 50% faster due to colonies of E.Coli inhabiting the chip.
Mmm...predigested...
when will it be able to play crysis?
sorry i had to say it
when will it be able to play crysis? sorry i had to say it
Actually, no you didn't.
Ensign Kim! How are the bio-neural gel packs?
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bio-neural_gel_pack
So now when I say my computer isn't working fer $&^%, it will be for real?
Yah go Green Screens when your computer crashes, hand it a tissue!
"he conceded that they are not close to actually producing them for actual products." i.e., it will be 15-20 yrs before anything useful comes out of it.
"we hope that our work could lead to a new generation of biological processors" doubt it. There was never one in the first place and never will be. There are no real advantages that this research provides over existing tech.
1. silicon and molecular-based circuitry is way more advanced
2. E. coli is a living organism, thus the following factors have to be controlled:
a. sustenance
b. reproduction
c. cell death
d. mutations
3. E coli by itself is already 2 micrometers (10^-6) long.
a. Molecular nanomachines being built are exactly that: sizes range from 10^-8 to 10^-7 meters.
b. intel fab process is already or in the process of mass producing IB, which is already several magnitudes smaller than the E. coli itself
4. E. coli is an opportunistic organism. If in your blood stream, it will lead to sepsis, shock, and death. Last thing I want is an E. coli -based computer floating in my blood stream.
i, for one, we3lcome our new e-coli transistor overlords!
err, computer virus?
Now I have to worry about my computer getting a cold? A literal Virus. LOL
"he conceded that they are not close to actually producing them for actual products....computer floating in my blood stream.
I have no idea which moron modded you down but I got you back to zero at least. People have absolutely no concept of what happens genetically and what COULD happen if these things happen to mutate. Did the downrater watch or read I Am Legend or see Contagion? Guess what you moron, some movies and books have some basis in fact. Go read some early science fiction novels and see how many things we have now that people only dreamed of then. Or read about the Broad Street Cholera outbreak. 150 years ago, humans didn't know that crapping near your water supply was bad. If it looks clear, it must be ok!
We are messing around with stuff we barely understand.
Crap... I am full of this right now. I got some food poisoning about a week ago. My intestines are in knots right now solving logic problems I guess.... reminds me of calculus exam day.
"we hope that our work could lead to a new generation of biological processors" doubt it. There was never one in the first place and never will be.
i guess somebody is admitting they don't have a brain in their head?!
I'm envisioning this is how the Cylons got started. lol
Why not Skynet?
As the CPU or Computer heats up. Wouldnt the bacteria just die from heat? And were not even talking about overclocking yet...
"he conceded that they are not close to actually producing them for actual products." i.e., it will be 15-20 yrs before anything useful comes out of it."we hope that our work could lead to a new generation of biological processors" doubt it. There was never one in the first place and never will be. There are no real advantages that this research provides over existing tech. 1. silicon and molecular-based circuitry is way more advanced2. E. coli is a living organism, thus the following factors have to be controlled: a. sustenance b. reproduction c. cell death d. mutations3. E coli by itself is already 2 micrometers (10^-6) long. a. Molecular nanomachines being built are exactly that: sizes range from 10^-8 to 10^-7 meters. b. intel fab process is already or in the process of mass producing IB, which is already several magnitudes smaller than the E. coli itself4. E. coli is an opportunistic organism. If in your blood stream, it will lead to sepsis, shock, and death. Last thing I want is an E. coli -based computer floating in my blood stream.
This is just an experiment. But it could lead to creating technology that could produce medical biological computers, as article states anyway.
Aim of this is not to provide replacement for CPUs of today, but new intelligent medication and medical equipment. This has great potential because no matter how small inorganic robot/computer is it will be detected as pathogen by body, this type of technology can overcome that obstacle.
this is not good. I am envisioning a Skynet type scenario. it's best to abandon this research before it's too late.
I have no idea which moron modded you down but I got you back to zero at least. People have absolutely no concept of what happens genetically and what COULD happen if these things happen to mutate. Did the downrater watch or read I Am Legend or see Contagion? Guess what you moron, some movies and books have some basis in fact. Go read some early science fiction novels and see how many things we have now that people only dreamed of then. Or read about the Broad Street Cholera outbreak. 150 years ago, humans didn't know that crapping near your water supply was bad. If it looks clear, it must be ok! We are messing around with stuff we barely understand.
No, they are "messing around" with stuff you don't understand at all. 59 years ago we didn't know what DNA looks like, today we can manipulate it to our benefit. Please don't give me anti-GE food crap because oil eating bacteria often used to clean spills are GE organisms.
"he conceded that they are not close to actually producing them for actual products." i.e., it will be 15-20 yrs before anything useful comes out of it."we hope that our work could lead to a new generation of biological processors" doubt it. There was never one in the first place and never will be. There are no real advantages that this research provides over existing tech. 1. silicon and molecular-based circuitry is way more advanced2. E. coli is a living organism, thus the following factors have to be controlled: a. sustenance b. reproduction c. cell death d. mutations3. E coli by itself is already 2 micrometers (10^-6) long. a. Molecular nanomachines being built are exactly that: sizes range from 10^-8 to 10^-7 meters. b. intel fab process is already or in the process of mass producing IB, which is already several magnitudes smaller than the E. coli itself4. E. coli is an opportunistic organism. If in your blood stream, it will lead to sepsis, shock, and death. Last thing I want is an E. coli -based computer floating in my blood stream.
You ignored the fact that they also made DNA gates. That's significantly more intriguing than e. coli since it's actually small and not alive.
Considering the fact that we can already embed chips in rats (also insects) to make them do things, we're only a couple years from beetle mounted cameras and a decade from widespread testing for paralysis embedded IC treatment. I'd like to hear how small these DNA transistors get and what kind of heat they can take--I'm skeptical as to whether they'd be feasible to pursue instead of graphene.
I have no idea which moron modded you down but I got you back to zero at least. People have absolutely no concept of what happens genetically and what COULD happen if these things happen to mutate. Did the downrater watch or read I Am Legend or see Contagion? Guess what you moron, some movies and books have some basis in fact. Go read some early science fiction novels and see how many things we have now that people only dreamed of then. Or read about the Broad Street Cholera outbreak. 150 years ago, humans didn't know that crapping near your water supply was bad. If it looks clear, it must be ok! We are messing around with stuff we barely understand.
DNA strands you put in the body don't do much mutating to turn people into PCP zombie acrobats (I am Legend)--they give you cancer. So unless you're putting it into YOUR blood stream, you have nothing to worry about. If they were inserting random strings of RNA into poorly researched psuedo-living protein jumbles--then you could make some bad stuff like mad cow. But e. coli won't do much worse than cause sepsis. I think you're giving these movies too much credit. Have you seen/read The Andromeda Strain? Because that's a terrible example of science (erroneous explanation of evolution).
E.Coli is one thing I never imagined would work as a transistor gate, to be honest.