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Researchers find xenobots can give rise to offspring
- cwkoss 5y agoxenobots seem like a bad name for something that is neither alien or robot.
- robbedpeter 5y agoIt's xeno because its biology is synthetic, alien to "natural" biology, and -bot because the structure is synthetic, like any other robot. It's interesting research, but seems a little haphazard to me. "What if we make a Pacman shape out of frog cells" doesn't seem like it's leading anywhere profound. I wonder if they could impose arbitrary logic, and implement something like Conway's game of life? Seems like you'd need a predictable algorithmic framework in order to achieve anything useful with it.
- sxyuan 5y agoXeno comes from Xenopus laevis, a species of frog. It's a commonly used model organism and I believe often the source of the cells used in xenobots.
- cwkoss 5y agoAh, that significantly reduces my distaste.
- Teever 5y agoFreeform tissue engineering doesn't seem like it's leading anywhere profound? Imagine using autologous xenobots (homobots?) as a drug delivery mechanism for humans. > I wonder if they could impose arbitrary logic, and implement something like Conway's game of life? Seems like you'd need a predictable algorithmic framework in order to achieve anything useful with it. Exactly. When I look at these xenobots I see a prototype for programmable matter. Imagine using these kinds of things to run programs where the output of the programs isn't shifting bits in a CPU but shifting molecules in a substrate. You could use these for autonomous manufacturing from the microscale and up.
- ronyclau 5y agoLet's hope we can someday program it to find the answer to life, the universe and everything, and subsequently the ultimate question, just so we can render all philosophers jobless.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- anonymfus 5y agoCan similar kinetic processes be involved in how cancer cells form metastases?
- dang 5y agoThere's a press release about this at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29385548 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29385548 but it seems a bit sensational.
- robotresearcher 5y ago> “These things move around in the dish and make copies of themselves,” said Prof Josh Bongard, of the University of Vermont, a co-author of the research. > But there is a hitch. “It turns out that these xenobots will replicate once, one generation, they will make children. But the children are too small and weak to make grandchildren,” said Bongard. So, not copies of themselves, after all. Since the offspring lack at least the ability to make offspring. I bet Bongard would love to demonstrate evolution of xenobots. He needs sustainable replication with heritable traits to get it going. Then he can select for the behavior he wants. Thus we can discover interesting/valuable cell assemblies to either make by (eventually robot) hand, or if the xenomorph ecosystem can support replication factors above 1, farm.
- drdeca 5y ago> Since the offspring lack at least the ability to make offspring. That’s describing the earlier design. The later computer made design was able to produce not only grandchildren, but, iirc, even up to great great grandchildren.
- robotresearcher 5y agoThanks, I missed that. The text is below. It's not clear from the article if the repro is sustainable indefinitely. > Using artificial intelligence, the researchers found that if the xenobots were formed into certain shapes, such as that of the video game character Pac-Man, replication continued for further generations.
- drdeca 5y agoYes, the other article I read (which Wikipedia cites) mentioned great great grandchildren, but it wasn’t clear to me whether it seemed like it could continue indefinitely.
- lvass 5y agoGotta love how they categorize this as "machine" right after listing every single imaginable characteristic of living beings.
- cat_plus_plus 5y agoThat's such a fantastic idea to pursue after this pandemic!
- coolspot 5y agoTo make it better they also should make it consume any material it could find.
- laplacesdemon48 5y agoIn case anyone wants to see what this looks like, here's a video I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1eg-jgLx5o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1eg-jgLx5o
- naasking 5y agoGrey goo, here we come!
- lvs 5y agoHype, marketing, and devoid of recognizable scientific content.
- neurtrinosfake 5y agowhy is stuff from the guardian not on a HN blacklist or something
- bryanrasmussen 5y agoa submission of mine yesterday of the original paper https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29385491 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29385491
- aspyct 5y agoI feel like we should start talking about ethics here.
- darepublic 5y agoRelieved that reproduction can only happen once. The mystery of life hangs on