UK Scientist Inches Closer To Living Metal

Earnest Cavalli

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Jun 19, 2008
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UK Scientist Inches Closer To Living Metal



Lee Cronin, a scientist at the University of Glasgow, has created cells made of metal that he believes are capable of replicating organic life.

"I am 100 per cent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology," Cronin tells New Scientist.

In pursuit of his dream, Cronin and his colleagues have crafted microscopic bubbles that they have dubbed "iCHELLs." New Scientist explains:

His building blocks are large "polyoxometalates" made of a range of metal atoms - most recently tungsten - linked to oxygen and phosphorus. By simply mixing them in solution, he can get them to self-assemble into cell-like spheres.

Cronin and his team begin by creating salts from negatively charged ions of the large metal oxides bound to a small positively charged ion such as hydrogen or sodium. A solution of this salt is squirted into another salt solution made of large, positively charged organic ions bound to small negative ones.

When the two salts meet, they swap parts and the large metal oxides end up partnered with the large organic ions. The new salt is insoluble in water: it precipitates as a shell around the injected solution.

Once created, Cronin claims that he can force the resulting iCHELL to mimic various features of actual organic cells by slightly altering their "metal oxide backbone." For instance, he can build a porous membrane by creating "an oxide with a hole as part of its structure," or imbue the iCHELL with a capacity for photosynthesis by adding light-sensitive dyes and a membrane that can separate hydrogen and oxygen.

Taking a page from Charles Darwin's Thunderdome, Cronin's team plans to spend the next seven months dividing up a huge batch of mass-produced iCHELLs, and exposing them to various chemical elements. The goal, he claims, is to cull the weak iCHELLs, leaving only the strongest, fittest examples of metallic life.

"If the pH is too low and they dissolve then those droplets will have died," Cronin says. "I think we have just shown the first droplets that can evolve."

If this all sounds like a plot to breed a race of unstoppable metal supermen, don't worry; Cronin's initial plans seem much more benign (if no less geeky). "There is every possibility that there are life forms out there which aren't based on carbon," he says.

Yes Virginia, this entire thing is a proof of concept test for freaky aliens. The unstoppable metal supermen will just have to wait.

Source: New Scientist [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20906-lifelike-cells-are-made-of-metal.html]
(Image [http://www.myspace.com/bsmario81/photos/51159122])

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IndianaJonny

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Jan 6, 2011
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This is the second Scottish attempt to create living metal; the first resulted in this:

 

Grand_Arcana

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I wish science would slow up a bit so I have something to do with my future degree for the rest of my life. <_<
 
Dec 14, 2009
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IndianaJonny said:
This is the second Scottish attempt to create living metal; the first resulted in this:

What do you mean 'attempt'.

Irn-Bru was a fucking success!

A tasty, tasty success!


OT: Interesting, I wonder what kind of things this could be used for.
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

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Jan 23, 2011
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This would be one more step in validating abiogenesis. "See? Organic matter out of inorganic matter. Told ya it could happen."
 

BiscuitTrouser

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May 19, 2008
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dickywebster said:
If they create necrons, it will an awesome end of the world :3
DAMMIT NINJAD! Still posting this.



Totally called it.

Living metal sounds cool as hell though. Want some. Make some of these. They rock. Science in the media is pretty warped though. Im sure this isnt even accurately portrayed in the slightest.

CAPTCHA: the acdenti, thats what it will be when we actually make necrons >.>
 

Amphoteric

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NinjaDeathSlap said:
I hat to be that guy but... How can this possibly benefit us? Is it really a good idea?
Because its interesting?

Really that is all the justification you need to do something.
 

Wicky_42

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NinjaDeathSlap said:
I hat to be that guy but... How can this possibly benefit us? Is it really a good idea?
Well, if we can prove that forms of life can exist outside of our own organic, carbon-based experiences then we just open up a titanic scope for existences of life throughout the universe, not just on Earth-like planets in our particular temperature band around their stars with similar atmospheres. For some reason (as in, despite all the fun sci-fi) scientists have been operating under the assumption that life has to be similar in basis to ours. If we (read: clever guys in labs) can prove otherwise then our galaxy officially becomes much more theoretically populated!

Also, it's freaking cool that there are people doing this sort of thing - creating building blocks for life from metal whilst others are being able to write their own DNA sequences and inject them into organic cells to make them do what they want. It's either the beginning of Mankind's evolution, or our destruction, and either way it's pretty freaking awesome :D
 

thiosk

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As a chemist, I'd like to point out that what they've done is make little ionic salt baggies. A far cry from metallic life. But the best way to advance ones career as an academic researcher is by getting press. Selling science, if you will. I'm taking the "I'M BUILDING SKYNET FOR THE LULZ" approach to selling science. I hope to one day have my work detailed on this website.
 

dickywebster

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BiscuitTrouser said:
dickywebster said:
If they create necrons, it will an awesome end of the world :3
DAMMIT NINJAD! Still posting this.



Totally called it.

Living metal sounds cool as hell though. Want some. Make some of these. They rock. Science in the media is pretty warped though. Im sure this isnt even accurately portrayed in the slightest.

CAPTCHA: the acdenti, thats what it will be when we actually make necrons >.>
Well maybe not proper necrons, doubt we could make a gauss flayer and live, but itd be as close as we could get.
And science might be misshown in the news, but we're actually a lot closer to massive breakthroughs than people think, its just that no one will put in the money as it isnt profitable.
But if get nuked by a monolith, i will die happy! ^^
 

KaosuHamoni

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Apr 7, 2010
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Fuuuuuuuck. FUUUUUUUUCK. IT'S THE START TO THE TERMINATOR FROM TERMINATOR 2. WE'RE ALL FUCKED!! D=
 

NinjaDeathSlap

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Feb 20, 2011
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Amphoteric said:
NinjaDeathSlap said:
I hat to be that guy but... How can this possibly benefit us? Is it really a good idea?
Because its interesting?

Really that is all the justification you need to do something.
Nnyahh... I'm not so sure.

I love science (even though I'm not particularly good at it), and there are few things I despise more than unnecessary scaremongering about science, especially when people use the 'Frankenstein' comparison (because for one thing, Frankenstein never actually happened).

But you know what did happen when a bunch of scientists were just given complete free reign to dick around with a technology they didn't fully understand for no more reason than "because they could"?

Chernobyl happened.

Like I said, I love science. But I also acknowledge that science with no restraints and no real point could be just as bad as no science at all.

EDIT: Alright you win already! When I made this post I wasn't really thinking and in retrospect there are some gaping holes and inaccuracies in what I said. I'm sorry if me saying this really wounded you so badly but you can stop quoting me now please!
 

Beryl77

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Mar 26, 2010
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I had to think about the Reapers while reading this but it's still really neat.
 

Ghengis John

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Dec 16, 2007
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Earnest Cavalli said:
"There is every possibility that there are life forms out there which aren't based on carbon," he says.

Yes Virginia, this entire thing is a proof of concept test for freaky aliens. The unstoppable metal supermen will just have to wait.
I'm glad scientists like this exist. Because when such creatures are inevitably met, we can turn to these odd balls and ask the old sci-fi trope "Just how do we stop them, Professor?"
 

Avaholic03

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May 11, 2009
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NinjaDeathSlap said:
I hat to be that guy but... How can this possibly benefit us? Is it really a good idea?
Well, even in the somewhat near term he's taking about making cells that can photosynthesize. That could be applied to clean energy generation. The sky is the limit really.