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    The cells in your body are like computer software: they’re “programmed” to carry out specific functions at specific times. If we can better understand this process, we could unlock the ability to reprogram cells ourselves, says computational biologist Sara-Jane Dunn. In a talk from the cutting-edge of science, she explains how her team is studying embryonic stem cells to gain a new understanding of the biological programs that power life — and develop “living software” that could transform medicine, agriculture and energy.

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    26 Comments

    1. 7:58 theory shows that automatically checking whether an arbitrary program satisfies a specification is in general as difficult as just executing it, so no, there is no general technology for checking whether a program meets a specification… now, of course, for the simple types of programs we typically write by hand it would be doable to write down or even automatically generate proofs of correctness, but besides maybe NASA and authors of complex distributed protocols (such as for your triply redundant cloud storage), no one does these "formal specification checks" (aka. model checking).

    2. I want to design a machine will destroy the doctors and their need.. I hate doctors and I want to destroy them by designing a machine which will perform their work . I know this seems impossible today but I will make it possible when I will grow up currently I am a jee aspirant and I have started building my foundation since class 6 and now I am in class 9 and I am now completing the jee syllabus!!

    3. Only one year after this, almost everybody's cells are being reprogrammed to produce spike proteins !
      I hope the biological program has been well tested and has no bugs in it…

    4. Sounds like: biological computing will not overpower the current conventional computers in every aspects, they will only be good in some aspects, is that so? so, in the future, binary computers, quantum computers and biological computers will coexist forever? None of them will be obsolete?

    5. Just imagine if our skin cells had all it properties now plus become photo receptive. We would see through our entire skin. Nobody would sneak up on us .
      Or maybe we can reprogram a cell to be like neural link instead of putting foreign objects into our brains . The cell would become a signal receiver, decoder and transmitter all in one. Telepathy would be possible. No need for cellphones or eye straining.

    6. Where is the ordering or structure ? What is the process ? Scan a persons DNA , Then model them in a computer, Make DNA edits in the computer and model the outcome, Finally make the DNA edits to person with some editing tool ? How long do the edits last, What order should the edits be made such as should I regrow a third set of teeth at 40 or should I first try to regrow my tendons and restore my skin to youth ? Seems impossible but we could go as far as modelling a human into one of those quantum computers maybe you could be able to move forward with the theory of editing a person.

    7. Very interesting work.
      What has been discovered about nerve repair?
      Has anybody used living neurons to interface severed human nerves?

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