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posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the multi-purpose dept.

Living robots built using frog cells: Tiny 'xenobots' assembled from cells promise advances from drug delivery to toxic waste clean-up:

Now a team of scientists has repurposed living cells -- scraped from frog embryos -- and assembled them into entirely new life-forms. These millimeter-wide "xenobots" can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient) -- and heal themselves after being cut.

"These are novel living machines," says Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont who co-led the new research. "They're neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It's a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism."

The new creatures were designed on a supercomputer at UVM -- and then assembled and tested by biologists at Tufts University. "We can imagine many useful applications of these living robots that other machines can't do," says co-leader Michael Levin who directs the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts, "like searching out nasty compounds or radioactive contamination, gathering microplastic in the oceans, traveling in arteries to scrape out plaque."

The results of the new research were published January 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[...]"I think it's an absolute necessity for society going forward to get a better handle on systems where the outcome is very complex," Levin says. "A first step towards doing that is to explore: how do living systems decide what an overall behavior should be and how do we manipulate the pieces to get the behaviors we want?"

In other words, "this study is a direct contribution to getting a handle on what people are afraid of, which is unintended consequences," Levin says -- whether in the rapid arrival of self-driving cars, changing gene drives to wipe out whole lineages of viruses, or the many other complex and autonomous systems that will increasingly shape the human experience.

"There's all of this innate creativity in life," says UVM's Josh Bongard. "We want to understand that more deeply -- and how we can direct and push it toward new forms."

Also at CNET

Journal Reference:

Sam Kriegman, Douglas Blackiston, Michael Levin, and Josh Bongard. A scalable pipeline for designing reconfigurable organisms. PNAS, 2020 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1910837117


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:15PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:15PM (#943215)

    Ribbet Robots or Ribbots?

  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:17PM (1 child)

    by Bot (3902) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:17PM (#943216) Journal

    hybrids with meatbags, the horror...

    --
    Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 2) by stretch611 on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:52PM (24 children)

    by stretch611 (6199) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:52PM (#943226)

    Now that the robots can be created with an external layer of living cells they will be able to travel through a time portal and "terminate" the leaders of the future resistance.

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    • (Score: 3, Disagree) by Freeman on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:00PM (23 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:00PM (#943228) Journal

      Time travel is an unrealistic trope used by films, books, etc. Even, if we could do travel backwards in time. Doing so would be the most dangerous thing we could ever do. You could literally destroy the future or you could end up caught in an alternate timeline or you could create a time paradox that would unravel the fabric of time or some such nonsense.

      Creating hybrid/new life forms is a close second. At the very least highly suspect with regards to it being ethical. Sure, these things can't think/feel like people or even like a frog, but at what point are you causing more pain than you know.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:22PM (16 children)

        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:22PM (#943238)

        Causing the hybrid pain is certainly one consideration, but what worries me is losing control of them.

        One of the possible uses in TFA is cleaning up microplastics, so releasing a swarm of these new things into an ocean to clean up is going to subject them (possibly) to the forces of evolution, which might end up being a bad thing for everyone.

        • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:35PM (5 children)

          by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:35PM (#943247) Journal

          Reproduction isn't built into the design, I'm not exactly sure how you could evolve without that magic component.

          • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:58PM

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:58PM (#943259)

            Good point.

            Assuming reproduction isn't something they could begin themselves. I have no idea how that would work though.

            I suppose a kill switch of some kind would be easy enough to add.

          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:58PM (1 child)

            by Freeman (732) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:58PM (#943300) Journal

            To quote a famous movie. "Life finds a way" -- Rock Star Math guy

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:54AM (1 child)

            by arslan (3462) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:54AM (#943397)

            Umm just because it started out without reproduction doesn't mean it can't evolve/mutate into one or at least an organism that can split itself to multiply..

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:23AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:23AM (#943408)

              Well, only one way to find out! (cue maniacal laughter and crashing thunder)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:12PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:12PM (#943271)

          Agreed. I'm sure one day a trillion of these guys, who were originally deployed to teraform a lifeless planet in one of Dr Markus' failed and abandoned early Genesis prototypes, will be threatening peace talks out of Piccard.

        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:12PM (8 children)

          by Freeman (732) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:12PM (#943312) Journal

          The dangers inherent with introducing new species to new environments are definitely relevant to the discussion.

          Tangent:
          The Bible mentions two instances of what could possibly dinosaurs, as created by God. There's another explanation, that would definitely exclude dinosaurs form being in heaven. Adam and Eve were upwards of 15 ft. (5m+) tall and it would stand to reason that they and their direct descendants would have much closer to what the perfect human physiology would be. The Flood and other environmental factors greatly reduced the vitality and life expectancy of humans. Essentially, what I'm getting at here is that Adam and Eve would likely have been smarter than the likes of Albert Einstein, or perhaps the likes of Albert Einstein would have been average pre-flood. Now, thinking about a population of people who have the intelligence of someone like Albert Einstein. How far fetched would it be for the dinosaurs to have been genetically engineered / hybrid animals. Seems like, when looking at something like a Liger, that it's pretty good evidence that it's a plausible explanation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger [wikipedia.org]

          Now, we're on our way to duplicating that.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:46PM

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:46PM (#943330)

            How far fetched would it be for the dinosaurs to have been genetically engineered / hybrid animals.

            Extremely.

            I would go so far as to say it would be impossible.

            Also, Adam and Eve from the Bible did not actually exist, and would not have been 5 metres tall, even if they did. Also, there were two of them, so their descendents would have been non-viable after a very few generations.

            The people who wrote the Bible knew nothing of genetics, but we understand it pretty well now.

          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:06AM (6 children)

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:06AM (#943422) Journal

            ...you know, every time I think I've seen you hit peak religious whackadoodle, you go and surprise me. Holy sheepshit.

            If we're gonna play this game: evidence. Show the mechanisms by which "the Flood" (which any geologist can tell you did not happen and precisely why, in excruciating detail) "...greatly reduced the vitality and life expectancy of humans." Go on. Mechanism, referents, and reasons why and how.

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
            • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 15 2020, @04:26PM (5 children)

              by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @04:26PM (#943648) Journal

              Looking at it further, the Flood itself may not have caused the dramatic decreases in life span as recorded in the Bible. I wouldn't rule out environmental factors being at least somewhat responsible for the drop in life expectancy. A pretty convincing argument was the lack of genetic diversity. While Adam and Eve had essentially perfect physiologies, their descendants would have gradually worse genes, due to environmental factors and/or habits of their parents. Alcoholism is a major things that has been proven to cause birth defects. Pre-flood, there was a large pool of still long-lived people. After the flood, the genetic pool was reduced greatly. Noah's sons and their wives (who could have been sisters, before marrying Noah's sons for all we know). With succeeding generations of less healthy offspring, due to the necessity of marrying first, second, and third cousins, etc. While this mechanism would have affected Adam and Eve's offspring, they were essentially perfect, but as we know there are other factors that directly affect genetics. Such as the Alcoholism mentioned before. We definitely know that Noah got hammered, sometime after the flood. Perhaps, he was suffering from PTSD? Nothing like, having the entire world destroyed, to throw things for a loop.

              Example of known flood (not biblical event) effects:

              The flood was found to lead to deterioration of health status and to provoke depression and PTSD among the agricultural population in the mountainous region. We suggest that the number of disaster event experiences and existence of depression contriuted to changes in health status after the flood.

              https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796032/ [nih.gov]

              --
              Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:19PM (4 children)

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:19PM (#944055) Journal

                ... Iiiiiii'm gonna hit you with a [citation needed] for the underlying premise of the whole thing, that there ever was a global Flood. Go on. Prove it, in the face of everything we know about geology, the fossil record, the distribution of species and classes, all of it.

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                • (Score: 1, Troll) by Freeman on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:28PM (3 children)

                  by Freeman (732) on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:28PM (#944071) Journal

                  #1 proof is sea shells on the tops of mountains. Then, there's the mass burials of the dinosaurs. Also, why do you think they call oil a fossil fuel? That's decomposed organic material. You're burning the proof in your car. Some evolutionary ideas actually make sense, and can be proven. The origin of humans, the time scales, etc. are un-provable hypotheses.

                  --
                  Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
                  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 17 2020, @03:16PM (2 children)

                    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 17 2020, @03:16PM (#944547) Journal

                    You cannot be this stupid. "Seashells on top of mountains" is your proof? Really? Like I said, ask any geologist. Go on, find one and ask him or her about what "seashells on top of mountains" proves. Know what it proves? *Plate tectonics."

                    "Mass burial of the dinosaurs?" Bzzzzzt, wrong again. If every single one were found in the exact same sediment later dated 6-10Kya, you'd have a point, but they're not. And remember, there is more temporal distance between a T-Rex and a stegosaurus (Jurassic to late Cretaceous) than between the T-Rex and us humans (late Cretaceous to modern Holocene). The entire fossil record itself is the same rebuttal but magnified, from the Precambrian microfossils all the way up.

                    This is pathetic beyond words. How the hell do you sit there and type this with a straight face? Are you truly, in this modern age of the Internet and free and open access to centuries of scientific discovery, TRULY this ill-informed about the world around you?

                    --
                    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday January 17 2020, @04:18PM (1 child)

                      by Freeman (732) on Friday January 17 2020, @04:18PM (#944578) Journal

                      The issue is that you're looking at the history of the world in regards to there being no God or a god that's ambivalent or even malevolent. All of the the things that I mentioned, fit a world wide flood theory. In fact other theories such as meteor impacts for dinosaur extinction include possible versions of mass flooding that try to explain for the existence of seashells on tops of mountains.

                      For whatever reason(s) you are directly opposed to the existence of a good God. With such a mindset, you miss out on just how beautiful a world you could live in.

                      Things I don't worry about as a Christian:
                      Destruction of the entire world through random stupid. Giant Meteor, Nuclear Armageddon, Climate Change causing the end of all things, etc.

                      While, I don't worry about Climate Change. I do support taking care of the planet. Whether that's through clean energy, planting trees, picking up trash, or other ways that will help give us and our children clean and healthy environments. Adam and Eve were given the mission by God to care for the Garden of Eden and the animals therein. We should also care about the Earth and take care of it.

                      There are a lot of people that say, hey, we need to get off earth! The reality is that we don't know that there is even one Earth like planet in the entire Universe. In this case, I'm referring to a planet that is readily habitable by humans stepping off a spaceship or what have you. No matter what you say about Earth. Our current environment, is infinitely better and more habitable than Mars, the Moon, Jupiter's moons, Pluto, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love all the cool science stuff and interesting images we get from the Moon, Mars, etc. I just think it's more of a fun adventure than a solution for the human race.

                      --
                      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
                      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 18 2020, @04:37AM

                        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday January 18 2020, @04:37AM (#944881) Journal

                        What the actual fuck.

                        Freeman, your God-figure is as malevolent as they come. The only way you've managed to salvage even a little of your twisted religion is the (as it turns out, *entirely* linguistically correct) Annihilationist view of the final judgment you hold to. This may surprise you, but the vast majority of Christians know little to nothing of the original languages their sacred Scriptures are written in and would not, to choose the pertinent example, know the difference between "aionios" and "aidios." They also are not familiar with the writings of pre-Nicene church fathers such as Origen, Gregory Nazianzen, Theodore of Mopsuestia, etc.

                        You are aware, are you not, that most every Christian on the planet outside small groups of theological liberals, other JWs, and some splinter Protestant groups would condemn you, personally, yes, you, to eternal torment for this belief of yours? I would much prefer to see you argue your position against someone who has actual theological skin in this game, like our resident Opus Dei operative Bot, than me; compared to him, you and I are on the same side.

                        Regarding the assertion that "[a]ll of the the things that [you] mentioned, fit a world wide flood theory." ...no, no they don't. And any geologist who isn't in the employ of some agenda-driven Christian or Muslim religious institution will tell you that, in excruciating detail, with diagrams showing exactly where, how, and why the Deluge hypothesis has been falsified. At this point, to make the Flood hypothesis work, you'd have to resort to "yeah, well, Satan and/or Yahweh are *deceiving* these scientists because $REASONS," which puts you in a far worse position not only scientifically, but also epistemologically and theologically.

                        Lastly: you can get right the hell out of here with that "you are directly opposed to the existence of a good God" crap. I am not. *You* are. As it happens, not only am I not an atheist, I have a conception of God which actually *is* good *and* isn't internally contradictory, unlike yours. Get off your high horse and quit assuming everyone who disagrees with you is an atheist or a maltheist. It's dishonest as hell and is, in the most literal sense, arguing in bad faith.

                        --
                        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:24PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:24PM (#943239)

        Army of frog robots exacts revenge on France?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:49PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:49PM (#943254)

          There are probably French people reading this, you insensitive clod!

        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:20PM

          by Freeman (732) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:20PM (#943317) Journal

          Army of frog robots deployed by France to crush their enemies!

          https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-French-called-frogs

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:46PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:46PM (#943292)

        Meh. Life is suffering. Welcome to the party.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:26AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:26AM (#943412)

          Things do get better with time. After all, eventually we die. Isn't that great‽

          (I use the interrobang whenever possible, to increase the suffering.)

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @07:14AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @07:14AM (#943493)

            All life is suffering according to Buddhism. So there is no need to hesitate creating new life forms.

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