MetaFilter posts tagged with science and life

Discover Your Inner Frankenstein

amyms — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:23:52 -0800

"In Massachusetts, a young woman makes genetically modified E. coli in a closet she converted into a home lab. A part-time DJ in Berkeley, Calif., works in his attic to cultivate viruses extracted from sewage. In Seattle, a grad-school dropout wants to breed algae in a personal biology lab. These hobbyists represent a growing strain of geekdom known as biohacking, in which do-it-yourselfers tinker with the building blocks of life in the comfort of their own homes." They might be discovering cures for diseases or developing new biofuels, but are their experiments too risky? Via. Additional links from the article: "In her dining room lab, Meredith L. Patterson is trying to develop a bacteria that will glow green to signal the presence of melamine." "This home experiment for extracting DNA from strawberries [YouTube video] uses a zip-lock bag, a glass, detergent and some strawberries." "Read more about Katherine Aull's experiment in her closet lab." "DIYbio Group co-founder Mackenzie Cowell explains some of the initiatives [Vimeo video], and the community lab the group is setting up in Cambridge, Mass." Related: The Biohacking Hobbyist Biohacking: The Open Wetware Future The Open Biohacking Project

All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there.

KokuRyu — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:39:37 -0800

Are plasma crystals alive? Cosmic dust can, in the presence of plasma, creates formations known as plasma crystals. An international team of researchers published a study in the Aug.14, 2007, issue of the New Journal of Physics (PDF here, abstract here) that indicates that these crystals may be more sophisticated than anyone realized. In simulations involving cosmic dust, the researchers witnessed the formation of plasma crystals displaying some of the elementary characteristics of life -- DNA-like structure, autonomous behavior, reproduction and evolution. Could extraterrestrial life be made of corkscrew-shaped particles of interstellar dust? Intriguing new (circa 2007) evidence of life-like structures that form from inorganic substances in space have been revealed in the New Journal of Physics. The findings hint at the possibility that life beyond earth may not necessarily use carbon-based molecules as its building blocks. They also point to a possible new explanation for the origin of life on earth. The concept of interstellar dust-based life was described in the 1957 SF book, The Black Cloud, by Fred Hoyle. Hoyle was also responsible for the term Big Bang, though Hoyle himself did not believe the Big Bang theory. In an ironic plot twist that would foreshadow Hoyle's stance on panspermia (more here and here), the cloud expresses surprise that intelligent life is capable of forming on planets.

Enceladus

homunculus — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:52:15 -0800

Source Of Geysers On Saturn's Moon Enceladus May Be Underground Water. Earlier this year the Cassini spacecraft detected organic material in the geysers of Enceladus. The question now is, how's the fishing?

"Survivor: Extremophile Edition" Results Show

saulgoodman — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:45:35 -0800

Is life possible even in the coldest depths of space? If so, this tough little guy has long been thought to be a good candidate. Now, finally, analysis of the Tardigrades (a.k.a. "water bears") exposed to open space as part of the TARDIS project is finally complete. So what's the verdict? Epic win. Here's the abstract and links to the complete results. (Previously here.)

Lateral gene transfer and the history of life

homunculus — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:26:12 -0800

Festooning The Tree Of Life. Carl Zimmer describes new research on lateral gene transfer which makes the Tree of Life look more like a Gordian Knot.

Suspending Life

homunculus — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:10:28 -0800

Suspending Life. "If almost every species on Earth was killed some 250 million years ago, how did our ancient ancestors survive and evolve into us?"

Life

homunculus — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:40:51 -0800

The Meaning of Life. "We create life, we search for it, we manipulate and revere it. Is it possible that we haven't yet defined the term (PDF)?" [Via The Loom.]

Evolution and Cooperation

homunculus — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 14:25:56 -0800

In Games, an Insight Into the Rules of Evolution. Carl Zimmer writes about Martin Nowak (previously mentioned here), a mathematical biologist who uses games to understand how cooperation evolved. [Via MindHacks.]

Encyclopedia of Life

homunculus — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:15:24 -0800

The Encyclopedia of Life project will create a compendium of every aspect of the biosphere. It aims to compile data on all of Earth's 1.8 million known species on one Web site, and will include species descriptions, pictures, maps, videos, sound, sightings by amateurs, and links to entire genomes and scientific journal papers. E. O. Wilson is getting his wish. [Via BB.]

Obesity and Diabetes

Gyan — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:34:16 -0800

Obesity and Diabetes - another free supplement by Nature

Stem Cells in nature

Gyan — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 08:12:29 -0800

Nature has a somewhat technical but free supplement on stem cells (alongwith a podcast and related blog).

GATTACA

Gyan — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 04:15:19 -0800

The Promise and Perils of Synthetic Biology

The Simulacrisation of Technology into Life

0bvious — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:09:26 -0800

As the Pentagon ousts plans to turn insects into cyber war machines you'd be forgiven for asking the question: Where does the real digital end and the faked life begin? Are we simulating life synthetically? or just speeding up an entirely natural process? Technologically engineered life is here to stay. Its not far fetched to speculate that simulacra may become all there is.

MegaFeeders

Gyan — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:43:29 -0800

Obesity: Epidemic or Myth?

The origin of life?!

insomnia_lj — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 03:53:30 -0800

The origin of life?! I heard from an authority in molecular biology today that a group of researchers funded by the Carnegie Institution and NASA believe they've discovered the origin of RNA, and with that, the origin of life. This new discovery grew out of NASA's Deep Impact mission to study the composition of comets. Specifically, they started investigating a kind of carbon that forms in layers, with each layer slighly offset from the previous one in a helix shape. Significantly, the thickness of these carbon layers corresponds with the thickness of each twist in a strand of RNA. It turns out that the individual building blocks of RNA are capable of bonding to this layered carbon when exposed to UV radiation. Once this has happened, apparently formaldehyde can then bond to the building blocks of RNA on the carbon "pattern", allowing the bonded RNA to slough off into the primordial soup. Over time, some of these RNA strands could fold and bond to themselves, forming DNA. Formaldehyde, the initial bonding material, would eventually be replaced by a more chemically sophisticated substance, creating the chemical bond that we observe today in DNA. Expect a paper on it to be released in approximately three months with all the details.

Italo Calvino, 1923-1985

matteo — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 15:45:40 -0800

"If time has to end, it can be described, instant by instant," Mr. Palomar thinks, "and each instant, when described, expands so that its end can no longer be seen." He decides that he will set himself to describing every instant of his life, and until he has described them all he will no longer think of being dead. At that moment he dies.
In memoriam of Italo Calvino, who died exactly 20 years ago.
"Calvino's novels" by his friend Gore Vidal. Calvino's obituary by Vidal, il maestro William Weaver's essay on Calvino's cities, Jeanette Winterson on Calvino's dream of being invisible, and Stefano Franchi's philosophical study on Palomar's doctrine of the void. More inside.

God's Darwin or Chance's Drawin'?

daksya — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:13:57 -0800

Did the discovery of evolution lead to Darwin's agnosticism, as claimed? Carl Zimmer wonders. More importantly, can evolution be reconciled with Christianity?

Consciousness

Gyan — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 11:14:43 -0800

Who are YOU?

Big Questions of Science

Gyan — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 18:57:47 -0800

Science explores 125 big questions that face scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century. [via]

Feynan's letters

TimothyMason — Thu, 12 May 2005 06:39:55 -0800

Richard Feynman wrote letters to all kinds of people. Here are some of them.

NewsFilter - More evidence of life on mars

sourbrew — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:03:26 -0800

Life - a strong case for life on mars was presented sunday

Through the Looking Chords

Gyan — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 14:19:11 -0800

Dr Hugo's Museum of the Mind - Synaesthesia

Meaning of Life

andrew cooke — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 17:29:27 -0800

The Meaning of Life according to various rather famous people (Dennett, Fukuyama, etc). I'm watching the Dennett video at the moment and it starts rather weakly, but, by midway through, is rolling along nicely. With topics like "being good without god" and "the anthropic principle" it struck me as relevant to a couple of recent askmefi threads.
Dennett: [pause] i guess i'll say it again, more slowly...
(oh, and the player interface is rather delicate - give it time to load and click play a few times...)

Mammal Gene Memetics

Gyan — Tue, 11 May 2004 00:27:47 -0800

Analysis Uncovers Critical Stretches of Human Genome.

Genesis

Gyan — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 18:02:07 -0800

Genesis. "Life" from inorganic mixture. Full PDF paper : Spontaneous Formation of Cellular Chemical System that Sustains Itself far from Thermodynamic Equilibrium.