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SEEING PATTERNS in huge data sets and applying hypotheses to yield better predictions. Robot scientists with big data. https://lnkd.in/dDgxbbq View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends contemplating the simplicity that underlies the complexity in nature. From genes to proteins, this seems to be the rule. From the small number of elements to the vast number of compounds, this again holds true. It is intuitive that this is how nature must be organized. But the big jumps come when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (Euclid) through the phenomena of emergence. View in LinkedIn

TREMBLAYA BACTERIA use ancient bacterial genes horizontally transferred to the host mealybug in order to have a tiny genome. In other words, its ancestors parked its genes in the host to achieve simplicity. "With only 120 genes, its genome is the smallest known and smaller than many scientists consider necessary for life." https://lnkd.in/dyPjkcB View in LinkedIn

THIRTY PERCENT OF UNKNOWN FUNCTION. "Astoundingly, Venter says that his team could not identify the function of 149 of the genes in syn3.0’s genome, many of which are found in other life forms, including humans. “We don’t know about a third of essential life, and we’re trying to sort that out now." https://lnkd.in/eFyYj-B View in LinkedIn

SMALLEST ARTIFICIAL GENE SET. "In a 1995 Science paper, Venter’s team sequenced the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, a sexually transmitted microbe with the smallest genome of any known free-living organism, and mapped its 470 genes. By inactivating genes one by one and testing to see whether the bacterium could still function, the group slimmed this list down to 375 genes that seemed essential." https://lnkd.in/eFyYj-B View in LinkedIn

ARTIFICIAL LIFE. "Only recently have some scientists begun to ask if computer viruses are not a form of artificial life — a self-replicating organism. Simply because computer viruses do not exist as organic molecules may not be sufficient reason to dismiss the classification of this form of “vandalware” as a form of life." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

"MOBILE CODE is the ability to move executable code across the network, to the place where it is needed, and then execute that code securely and reliably." https://lnkd.in/dqK2a6W View in LinkedIn

RADICAL. “I think computer viruses should count as life.” (Stephen Hawking) https://lnkd.in/db_T3sX View in LinkedIn

COMPUTER VIRUSES. "Like DNA molecules, it's code is a template that is used by the virus to replicate itself. There also seems to be a kind of metabolism that converts matter and energy." https://lnkd.in/dz3C6n5 View in LinkedIn

INFORMATION. "A computer virus has information storage of a self-representation." https://lnkd.in/dz3C6n5 View in LinkedIn