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Nano-transistor self-assembles using biology
Newscientist ^
| Nov 20, 2003
| Gaia Vince
Posted on 11/20/2003 9:37:34 PM PST by Diddley
click here to read article
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Wow!
1
posted on
11/20/2003 9:37:34 PM PST
by
Diddley
To: RadioAstronomer
Ping
2
posted on
11/20/2003 9:38:36 PM PST
by
Diddley
(Free Republic: An aboveground forum.)
To: Diddley
One part of me thinks this is just nifty. Another part of me is screaming "Warning! Warning! Danger, Will Robinson! Warning" and waving its robot arms around frantically.
Anybody else out there a fan of Mr. Bungle and their "California" album?
"Mendel's machines replicate in the night....."
3
posted on
11/20/2003 9:44:57 PM PST
by
Elliott Jackalope
(We send our kids to Iraq to fight for them, and they send our jobs to India. Now THAT'S gratitude!)
To: Diddley
Wow is right, spectacular work by Israeli scientists. They create, while Abdullah in the West Bank concentrates on binding duct tape to flesh, the better to strap bombs on his children. Thank G-d for Jews, and wish the world would appreciate them more.
4
posted on
11/20/2003 9:45:28 PM PST
by
roadcat
To: roadcat
What a great observation.
5
posted on
11/20/2003 9:56:21 PM PST
by
Diddley
(Free Republic: An aboveground forum.)
To: Elliott Jackalope
One part of me thinks this is just nifty. Another part of me is screaming "Warning! Warning! Danger, Will Robinson! Warning" and waving its robot arms around frantically. LOL. Me too. I was thinking "As long as they don't grow legs and try to take over the world."
To: roadcat
Thank G-d for Jews, and wish the world would appreciate them more. Didn't they also just come up with an antibody for SARS? A vaccine?
To: concerned about politics
The legs I'm not so worried about, it's the heads and hands with the glowing eyes and the big rocket guns for fingers that give me the heebie-jeebies. Did
anyone see "Terminator"?
Oh man, I'm going to have some interesting nightmares tonight!
8
posted on
11/20/2003 10:19:20 PM PST
by
Elliott Jackalope
(We send our kids to Iraq to fight for them, and they send our jobs to India. Now THAT'S gratitude!)
To: concerned about politics
Interesting how timely Michael Crichton's book,
Prey, is....
While I do feel that nanotech has some amazing possibilities, like microsurgery to repair vascular deficits or remove cancerous growths without traumatic incisions, there is also a potential for grave disasters. Self-assembling or replicating nanotech devices could become a horrible new "virus."
9
posted on
11/20/2003 10:22:59 PM PST
by
Ophiucus
To: Sabertooth
ping
10
posted on
11/20/2003 10:24:15 PM PST
by
farmfriend
( Isaiah 55:10,11)
To: Ophiucus
Self-assembling or replicating nanotech devices could become a horrible new "virus." "Never invent something you can't control".
It is kinda scary. Maybe Israel sees it's military potential. Lord knows those folks are watching their backs 24/7! Imagine the bioweapons!
To: concerned about politics
Imagine the bioweapons! I'd rather not! Molecular machines programmed to seek and destroy human life? We wouldn't need an asteroid to go the way of the dinosaur.
12
posted on
11/20/2003 11:07:51 PM PST
by
Ophiucus
To: concerned about politics
Imagine the bioweapons! Indeed. Picture a bioweapon that would only be triggered if its host matched a specific genetic profile and the nanobots simply responded to such a match by metabolizing oxygen in the bloodstream and producing only carbon monoxide. The victim would suffer brief anoxia, lose consciousness and die within a very short time frame. Talk about a surgical strike.
Even more chilling, suppose someone in possession of such a weapon merely wanted to wipe out...say...an entire ruling royal class. Simple. Just have the weapon match on the mitochondrial DNA (which is passed unchanged from mother to child). Boom. Instant destruction of all within a certain lineage.
And that's just the tip of the nanotechnological iceberg in terms of weaponry.
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if, five years from now, a global moratorium on nanotechnology is demanded due to ethical considerations (as is currently the case with human cloning).
It's a shame, really. Nanotechnology holds a great deal of promise...just as the atom did in the 1940s. But it's all too easily perverted into a weapon of horrible power that all can witness but few can truly comprehend.
13
posted on
11/21/2003 2:41:14 AM PST
by
Prime Choice
(Conservative: One who doesn't believe that turning the U.S. into a third-world nation is 'progress'.)
To: Diddley
Israeli science ping
14
posted on
11/21/2003 5:28:50 AM PST
by
zx2dragon
(I could never again be an angel... Innocence, once lost, can never be regained.)
To: anotherview
science ping
15
posted on
11/21/2003 7:09:52 AM PST
by
zx2dragon
(I could never again be an angel... Innocence, once lost, can never be regained.)
To: sourcery; Ernest_at_the_Beach
ping
To: Diddley
Drexler's timetable is playing out quite nicely. Progress should continue to occur at an ever-accelerating rate. The Singuluarity will be upon us sooner than many think.
17
posted on
11/21/2003 9:06:49 AM PST
by
sourcery
(This is your country. This is your country under socialism. Any questions? Just say no to Socialism!)
To: Diddley
Whoa. This is serious. As in "MAJOR Breakthrough" serious. This has the potential to be the equivalent of splitting the atom, as far as scientific acheivements go.
18
posted on
11/21/2003 10:22:26 AM PST
by
FierceDraka
("I AM NOT A NUMBER - I AM A FREE MAN!")
To: Ophiucus
Interesting how timely Michael Crichton's book, Prey, is....I must respectfully disagree. I read "Prey" a few months ago. It reminded me of "Jurassic Park", with the nano-swarms replacing the dinosaurs.
LOL His new movie adaptaion, "Timeline", looks like the same plot, replacing velociraptors and evil nanobots with marauding medieval knights.
That's just my humble opinion, though.
19
posted on
11/21/2003 10:27:32 AM PST
by
FierceDraka
("I AM NOT A NUMBER - I AM A FREE MAN!")
To: Elliott Jackalope
One part of me thinks this is just nifty. Another part of me is screaming "Warning! Warning! Danger, Will Robinson! Warning" and waving its robot arms around frantically. I'm right there with you. As an electrical engineer I'm excited by this breakthrough, and as an electrical engineer I'm a bit worried by its potential applications.
20
posted on
11/21/2003 12:08:44 PM PST
by
randog
(Everything works great 'til the current flows.)
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