Category: Uncategorized

PROBING THE POSSIBLE. "Artificial life calls special attention to the question of whether there can be forms of life that are fundamentally different from the familiar biological instances. For example, life as we know it encodes information needed to re-create structures that cannot be copied directly (such as proteins) in combinatorial structures that can be copied generically (genes)." https://lnkd.in/dsMZPii View in LinkedIn

SHOCK VALUE. “The announcement last week that a robot had been granted Saudi Arabian citizenship – a gimmick, admittedly – was nevertheless reported as yet another step in the direction of our much-anticipated demise.The rise of the robots need not spell downfall for humans.” https://lnkd.in/d8_7UUC View in LinkedIn

GRAND CHALLENGE. "Determine Whether Fundamentally Novel Living Organizations Can Exist." https://lnkd.in/dsMZPii View in LinkedIn

"ARTIFICIAL CHEMISTRIES are computer-based model systems composed of objects (abstractions of molecules), which are generated by collision between existing objects according to a predefined interaction law. The collisions may be purely random or allow the buildup of spatial correlations, as in diffusion systems. Bimolecular chemistry is assumed to be sufficient to display the transition to life, but this may involve complex structures." https://lnkd.in/dsMZPii View in LinkedIn

BEDAU'S GAUNTLET. "Demonstrate an Artificial Chemistry in Which the Transition to Life Occurs in Silico. Few questions concerning living systems are as fundamental as the spontaneous generation of life, and a constructive context in which to explore this issue is artificial chemistry." https://lnkd.in/dsMZPii View in LinkedIn

NANOBES IN METEORITE. “The Martian meteorite ALH84001, discovered in 1984 in the Antarctic, contained similar tubular structures which some astrobiologists suggested could be evidence of life at an earlier time on Mars.” Long live Fred Hoyle! https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

SMALLEST CREATURES include mycoplasma, the smallest known bacteria (300 nm), and Nanoarchaeum—smallest known archaeum (400 nm), Parvovirus—smallest known viruses (18-28 nm), Prion—smallest known infectious agent (≈10 nm), Ultramicrobacteria—possible dormant forms of larger cells (200 nm).” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

THE SAME SIZE AS VIRUSES. “Nanobes are about 20 nm in diameter, which may be too small to contain the basic elements for an organism to exist (DNA, ribosomes, etc.), suggesting that if they grow and reproduce they would need to do so in an unconventional way.” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

NOT NANOBACTERIA. “Nanobes are similar in size to nanobacteria, which are also structures that have been proposed to be extremely small living organisms. However, these two should not be confused. Nanobacteria are thought to be cellular organisms, while nanobes are hypothesized to be a previously unknown form of life or protocells.” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

ARE NANOBES ALIVE? “The smallest are just 20 nanometers in diameter. Some researchers believe that these structures are crystal growths, but the staining of these structures with dyes that bind to DNA might indicate that they are living organisms.” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn