Synthetic Signals Could Foster Unprecedented Life Forms

"The machines that we use to travel in space and go to the bottom of the ocean -- to go places where biological organisms can't go -- are complex but also rather simple in that they are dumb pieces of metal stuck together with rivets and glue," said Jonathan Nitschke, a scientist at the University of Cambridge and the co-author of a recent paper in the journal Nature Chemistry.

"If we had materials that stuck together like biological organisms, that grew and responded to stimuli, that healed themselves after being punctured, (then) that could allow you to make a living spaceship that could safely travel through space," he added. "This research allows us to start dreaming in that direction -- at least a little bit."

Fascinating. Imagine what we'd have accomplished, and where we'd be if as a civilization, we devoted our time, resources and intelligence to the advancement of the species rather than bloody conflict in the name of power and greed.

news.discovery.com...=rssnws1

[edit on 7/1/2010 by Unit541]

i would say amen but that might be taken as religious and i dont want that.......yes we do need to worry about advancing our race......we need to find another planet that can sustain us or work towards terraforming one or upgrading the ISP but right now humans could very possibly be wiped from our universe at anytime........STOP THE WARS.......we are all human.........just cause we haven't found aliens dont mean they arent there.....you xtians should love that one ha ha......xtians like to say oh well if you cant see it it dont mean it dont exist.....i hate that....so annoying........ya your right about that but i dont think your book has it right sorry........back to the point i think people with a mind like this scientist will pave our future.........SEEK KNOWLEDGE.......anyone can do their part.........remember Einstein was 26 and working at a patent office when he came up with his Theory of Relativiy......i find that amazing.......anyone on this website can be great too just seek knowledge...

its funny. probably every time i meet up for beers with my friends, the conversation ends up with me ranting and trying to convince everyone that if every military program in the world were dissolved, and half the money went towards feeding the hungry while the other half went into a wolrd-wide space program, the world would be a better place. eventually we would find another intelligent life form, and wars with each other would seem childish in the scope of the universe we could explore.
i completely agree with you. thanks for posting.

i know how you feel man......us having and still seeking knowledge is like us being in love with a girl.......when your in love you want to tell the whole world.....thats how i feel everyday i just want to blurt out everything i know that would disprove what they think......i want everyone to understand what i do but you just cant hit it home......i will use the word hope instead of pray.....i hope that you and i can both one day say that we have changed one of our friends outlook on life.......if i can change one persons views to this so can you....and the person reading this....and the person learning from the person/s reading this.........

Agreed, and I empathize as well. It seems like a lost cause sometimes.

Especially, when you consider the fact that the long-term survival of our species depends entirely on us getting off this rock and setting out into the cosmos. Imagine all the things we wouldn't have, if people never set out to find the new world. Or even left Africa to begin with.

We are explorers. This is our nature, yet we expend an immeasurable fraction of our efforts towards exploration.

I wonder how many times human civilization has tried, failed, and restarted in the past. "All of this has happened before, and will happen again... and again... and again..."