DIY Biotech
February 11, 2008 7:05 AM   Subscribe

Worried about the state of biodiversity? Why not make some of your own? Moore’s law is all over biotechnology right now. Can the hackers be far behind? MIT's Drew Endy doesn’t think so. Ready to get started? You might already have some of the tools that you will need. Plans for others are available on the web. All you need now are some parts.
posted by Kid Charlemagne (12 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Prediction: When I'm 60, I'm not going to be able to turn off the blinking 12:00 on my grandchildren's hamster.
posted by DU at 7:13 AM on February 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


The video in the first link is pretty sweet.
posted by localhuman at 7:49 AM on February 11, 2008


> Moore’s law is all over biotechnology right now.

Does that mean the RNA of newborns is half the size and twice as complex as the RNA of those born eighteen months earlier?
posted by ardgedee at 8:03 AM on February 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


Moore’s law is all over biotechnology right now.

But that's usually what happens when marketing phrases get all horned up. Next, Moore's law will be humping nanotube's leg.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:13 AM on February 11, 2008


You know how a few years geeks discovered the household tips that have been published for decades in womens' magazines and started running around screaming "ZOMG Life Hack!!!!"? I'm reminded of that. But I haven't watched the whole video yet.
posted by nowonmai at 8:14 AM on February 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


Thank you for the link to the lecture... I'm watching it now and it's fascinating.
posted by mecenday at 8:17 AM on February 11, 2008


And having made some effort to see who the audience for this talk was, I understand why he is couching things in such terms. As such, this seems like an excellent introduction to synthetic biology for computer types.
posted by nowonmai at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2008


This seems incredibly cool. One hell of a place to innovate and make ones lifes work.
posted by Rubbstone at 10:08 AM on February 11, 2008


What I am waiting for is miniature purple rhinoceroses with sucker feet. You know they're coming.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 11:13 AM on February 11, 2008


Maybe not the most precise use of Moore's law, but for any technology there is a golden age where the the before and after are so different it's hard to imaging the two being on a continuum. Steel production between 1850 and 1900 probably had the same sort of growth curve. For biotech one of the examples Endy gives is how many base pairs can be sequenced in a given time.

But yeah, "Moore's Law" and "Hack" have kinda gone the same ways as "Viral" (as in viral marketing AKA annoying the hell out of everyone) haven't they.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 4:05 PM on February 11, 2008


"Moore's Law" was annoying right out of the gate.

Biotech is pretty amazing these days, though. Too bad I can't really get into it the same way I got into boring regular tech. Maybe when they come up with the equivalent of DOS for fruit flies.
posted by blacklite at 9:17 PM on February 11, 2008


Metafilter: Next, Moore's law will be humping nanotube's leg
posted by AdamCSnider at 10:38 PM on February 11, 2008


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