World

Scientists create ‘xenobots’ that can reproduce

TORONTO – Scientists in the United States have created robots that can naturally regenerate themselves in what they call a “profound” discovery.

The study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, see that These computer-designed and hand-assembled creatures called “xenobots” can reproduce in a way never before seen in plants and animals.

“People have thought for a long time that we’ve figured out all the ways that life can regenerate or regenerate, but this is something that has never been observed before,” said Douglas Blackiston, co-author of the study. and a senior scientist at Tufts University and Harvard University, said in a press release.

Xenobots were first developed and reported in 2020. They are created from about 3,000 embryonic skin cells of an African clawed frog.

The researchers found that these xenobots – when properly engineered – can swim around while gathering hundreds of single cells to assemble smaller versions of themselves in the mouth. These smaller xenobots can grow to full size within a few days.

This method of reproduction is called kinetic replication and is common in molecules, but has never been seen in cells or organisms.

“This is profound,” said Michael Levin, study co-leader and professor of biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. “These cells have the genome of a frog, but, freed from being tadpoles, they use collective intelligence, a plasticity, to do something amazing.”

To explore the regenerative capabilities of xenobots, the researchers used a supercomputer at the University of Vermont to simulate billions of body shapes to determine which would be ideal for kinetic reconstruction.

Months later, the computer returns a xenobot shaped like the character Pac-Man, with a large mouth that can be used to build other xenobots.

“It looks very simple, but it’s not something a human engineer might think,” said Sam Kriegman, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University and Harvard University. out.

For those concerned about the idea of ​​biotech self-replicating, the researchers emphasize that federal, state, and institutional ethics experts have also approved the study. It is also contained in the laboratory and can be easily extinguished.

Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont, said: “What is at risk is the next pandemic, increasing ecosystem damage from pollution, (and) increasing increasing threats from climate change.

“This is an ideal system for studying self-replicating systems. We have a moral imperative to understand the conditions under which we can control it, direct it, use it, launch it. great it.”

The researchers also note that the technology has a range of potential benefits for humans, including regenerative medicine, cleaning up ocean pollution and vaccine research.

.

Source link

news7h

News7h: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button