Month: September 2022

THE CASE OF VIRUSES. “Viruses are the biological objects that are the pivot of our discussion because many biologists deny that they are living organisms. In fact, they are frequently considered to be test cases for the boundary between life and non-life, organism and non-organism, and biology and chemistry.” https://lnkd.in/dVyX2pV View in LinkedIn

DEFINITIONAL ISSUES. “Thinking about viruses and their relegation to the realms of non-living and non-organismal entities necessitates a consideration of whether organism and living entity are identical categories, and whether a minimal account of life has to begin with cells.” https://lnkd.in/dVyX2pV View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this provocative and thoughtful discussion about where life starts and ends, and the problems of defining life. When the Little Green Men come to Earth and ask us what we define as life, collectively, we will score a D(-) as a backward student in the Cosmos. View in LinkedIn

DEFINITIONAL TRAP. “DNA is non-living because it cannot maintain homeostasis on its own. And it does not have a metabolism of its own.” https://lnkd.in/dMinrW7 View in LinkedIn

NON-LIVING IMMORTAL. “Birth and death is one of the characteristics of living thing, DNA appeared in the living and it is not having birth point to have death point. So, DNA is non-living because it never dies.” https://lnkd.in/dMinrW7 View in LinkedIn

MORE TRAPS. “Duplication is not the same as life. Complex chemicals are capable of duplication. Amino acids and protein are not alive, but they duplicate and are a requirement for replication. Proto-life catalyzes and carries information required for its own existence.” https://lnkd.in/dSqra5e MORE TRAPS. “Duplication is not the same as life. Complex chemicals are capable of duplication. Amino acids and protein are not alive, but they duplicate and are a requirement for replication. Proto-life catalyzes and carries information required for its own existence.”https://lnkd.in/dSqra5e View in LinkedIn

ONE DEFINITION: life is information that can reproduce and evolve. Forget independence, metabolism and death. An amalgam from various sources. View in LinkedIn

CRAG VENTER TED talk on his synthetic cell. https://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life?language=en View in LinkedIn

VENTER created synthetic DNA on a computer and booted up a disabled cell sack. "Using the tools of synthetic biology, scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute installed a completely artificial genome inside a host cell without DNA. Like the bolt of lightening that awakened Frankenstein, the new genome invigorated the host cell, which began to grow and reproduce, albeit with a few problems.” http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/synthetic-genome-life.htm View in LinkedIn