Are We Getting Closer to Artificial Life?

Implications for Health Care?  Health-Technical. 

In Nature:  Article, Published: 14 September 2022

Living material assembly of bacteriogenic protocells

Can Xu, Nicolas Martin, Mei Li & Stephen Mann 

Nature volume 609, pages 1029–1037 (2022)   Cite this article

Abstract

Advancing the spontaneous bottom-up construction of artificial cells with high organizational complexity and diverse functionality remains an unresolved issue at the interface between living and non-living matter1,2,3,4. Here, to address this challenge, we developed a living material assembly process based on the capture and on-site processing of spatially segregated bacterial colonies within individual coacervate microdroplets for the endogenous construction of membrane-bounded, molecularly crowded, and compositionally, structurally and morphologically complex synthetic cells. The bacteriogenic protocells inherit diverse biological components, exhibit multifunctional cytomimetic properties and can be endogenously remodelled to include a spatially partitioned DNA–histone nucleus-like condensate, membranized water vacuoles and a three-dimensional network of F-actin proto-cytoskeletal filaments. The ensemble is biochemically energized by ATP production derived from implanted live Escherichia coli cells to produce a cellular bionic system with amoeba-like external morphology and integrated life-like properties. Our results demonstrate a bacteriogenic strategy for the bottom-up construction of functional protoliving microdevices and provide opportunities for the fabrication of new synthetic cell modules and augmented living/synthetic cell constructs with potential applications in engineered synthetic biology and biotechnology.  ... ' 

Growing Artificial Neural Nets

Quite an impressive thought.    Have them grow their own architecture?

Artificial Neural Nets Grow Brainlike cells to find their way   
By John Rennie  in Wired

HAVING THE SENSE to take a shortcut, the most direct route from point A to point B, doesn’t sound like a very impressive test of intelligence. Yet according to a new report appearing last week in Nature, in which researchers describe the performance of their new navigational artificial intelligence, the system’s ability to explore complex simulated environments and find the shortest route to a goal put it in a class previously reserved for humans and other living things.

 --- Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences. --- 

The surprising key to the system’s performance was that while learning how to navigate, the neural net spontaneously developed the equivalent of “grid cells,” sets of brain cells that enable at least some mammals to track their location in space.

For neuroscientists, the new work seems to offer important clues about how grid cells in living brains make us better navigators. It also shows how neural nets could contribute greatly to future neuroscience studies: Neil Burgess, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London who was not involved with the study, suggested that the systems should “provide fertile ground for understanding how and why the human brain works as it does.”  ..... " 

3D Printed Artificial Life Art

Via colleague Mark Lacy, more art than life, but I like the complexity that is shown here.  Includes video.  " ... Theo Jansen's Strandbeests have found a way to multiply by injecting their digital DNA directly into the Shapeways system. From now on several small strandbeests are available from his shop. Next to being a great abstraction of the inspiring work of Theo Jansen, these Strandbeests are also an example of what 3D printing is ultimately capable of. Right after birth from the 3D printer these  models will work straight away and do NOT require any assembly. ... '

 3D printing is very suitable for rapid design changes, and as time goes by the Beests will evolve and new types of DNA will be added to the store, while others are removed. Expect more evolutions and variations in the future, with possible variation in size, shape, material or means of propulsion. ...

Harvard and MIT Join to Address Intelligence

We were heavily involved in the last Artificial Intelligence hype peak in the late 80s.  Despite some big successes we saw it languish, at least in direct practice,  for years.  Then along came IBM's Watson to show there was real life in the idea.   As I thought would occur, a number of efforts are now underway to bring it back.   I hope for practical application.  Now richly endowed with more and better data.  And Brain models are back too.   " ... Computerworld - The National Science Foundation has awarded a $25 million grant to Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study how the brain creates intelligence and how that process can be replicated in machines. ... "    Exactly what this will be called and positioned  remains to be seen.  But I notice that researchers have stopped shying away from the term Artificial Intelligence.

Google Brain and the New AI

In Wired:  Neuro artificial intelligence?  " ... The idea arises from experiments suggesting that the portion of your brain dedicated to processing sound from your ears could also handle sight for your eyes. This is possible only while your brain is in the earliest stages of development, but it implies that the brain is — at its core — a general-purpose machine that can be tuned to specific tasks. ... About seven years ago, Stanford computer science professor Andrew Ng stumbled across this theory, and it changed the course of his career, reigniting a passion for artificial intelligence, or AI. “For the first time in my life,” Ng says, “it made me feel like it might be possible to make some progress on a small part of the AI dream within our lifetime.” ... "

Lifebrowser Lets You Explore Your Past

Clever idea, from Microsoft, that could have application for mining important aspects of corporate history for training: ... " Prototype software called Lifebrowser uses artificial intelligence to help you revisit important events, photos, and e-mails from your own life.   ... Mining personal data to discover what people care about has become big business for companies such as Facebook and Google. Now a project from Microsoft Research is trying to bring that kind of data mining back home to help people explore their own piles of personal digital data .... " 

Nature Special Edition: Turing at 100

Pioneer of artificial intelligence Alan Turing is celebrated in the 100th anniversary of his birth.  A special edition of Nature Magazine.  " ...  In this collection of features and opinion pieces, Nature celebrates the mind that, in a handful of papers over a tragically short lifetime, shaped many of the hottest fields in science today...."