Supported in part by funding from DARPA, a group of scientists recently made history by creating self-replicating xenobots in a lab. Here's the published study. Stem cells from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis were used as building blocks for the novel creatures, while a computer program was used to determine their assembled shape. The shape the computer came up with looked like Pac-Man and resulted in multi-generational replication.
Here's a quote from CNN Coverage:
[Lead author Josh] Bongard said they found that the xenobots, which were initially sphere-shaped and made from around 3,000 cells, could replicate. But it happened rarely and only in specific circumstances. The xenobots used "kinetic replication" - a process that is known to occur at the molecular level but has never been observed before at the scale of whole cells or organisms, Bongard said.
With the help of artificial intelligence, the researchers then tested billions of body shapes to make the xenobots more effective at this type of replication. The supercomputer came up with a C-shape that resembled Pac-Man, the 1980s video game. They found it was able to find tiny stem cells in a petri dish, gather hundreds of them inside its mouth, and a few days later the bundle of cells became new xenobots.
These millimeter-sized Pac-Man xenobots don't have any evident practical applications yet. Speculation in the media suggests that creatures based on the science that created the Pac-Mans could one day be used for environmental tasks like removing microplastics from the oceans. But the oceans are somewhat more complex than petri dishes filled with stem cells. And runaway reproduction of xenobots in the wild is the stuff of apocalyptic nightmares.
Still, the breakthrough is fascinating. And the fact that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency funded the project implies that xenobots may have unique military applications. It's also a little funny that a computer was tasked with shaping a new (quasi) life form and came up with Pac-Man. Were they by any chance using a computer from 1985?
While some may fear tech like this, it seems to have a lower potential for disaster than more common practices like gain-of-function research. But I could be wrong about that. Especially since the military is involved.
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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