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<DIV><SPAN class=008555123-26112005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>One of
those guys, but I can't remember either.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=008555123-26112005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Whichever one he was, he also did a lot of acid.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=008555123-26112005></SPAN> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Jill Andresevic
[mailto:andresevic@earthlink.net]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, November 26, 2005
9:29 AM<BR><B>To:</B> Steve Hovland; The new improved paleopsych list;
isaacsonj@hotmail.com; eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il<BR><B>Cc:</B>
jz@bigbangtango.net; sjlee@howardbloom.net; kblozie@yahoo.com;
idigdarwin@yahoo.com; BobKrone@aol.com; ohbeeb@yahoo.com<BR><B>Subject:</B>
Re: [Paleopsych] re: bacterial engineering and our future in
space<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Steve / Howard, I read that Watson or Crick (not sure
which one) wrote about DNA being sent to Earth on a spaceship, because his
theory was Earth could not create life, therefore life had to brought here
from another place (interesting how this is not something well known, if
indeed it is true). This also could connect to the fact that a pig and a
chicken and a human embryo all look very much the same early in embryonic
development, since I am speculating that there was one form of DNA that then
evolved into different life forms. I am not a professional scientist
like most of you (I am guessing), just a fan of Howard’s. Curious as to
what you think of this, if anything. Jill<BR><BR>
<HR align=center width="95%" SIZE=3>
<B>From: </B>"Steve Hovland" <shovland@mindspring.com><BR><B>Date:
</B>Sat, 26 Nov 2005 06:52:45 -0800<BR><B>To: </B>"The new improved paleopsych
list" <paleopsych@paleopsych.org>, <isaacsonj@hotmail.com>,
<eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il><BR><B>Cc: </B><jz@bigbangtango.net>,
<sjlee@howardbloom.net>, <kblozie@yahoo.com>, "Jill Andresevic"
<andresevic@earthlink.net>, <idigdarwin@yahoo.com>,
<BobKrone@aol.com>, <ohbeeb@yahoo.com><BR><B>Subject: </B>RE:
[Paleopsych] re: bacterial engineering and our future in
space<BR><BR> <BR>Some people think our DNA came here from
space<BR>encapsulated in bacteria...<BR> <BR>Steve <BR></SPAN></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT face=Tahoma>-----Original
Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org
[<A
href="mailto:paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org]">mailto:paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org]</A><B>On
Behalf Of </B>HowlBloom@aol.com<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 25,
2005 8:50 PM<BR><B>To:</B> isaacsonj@hotmail.com;
eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il<BR><B>Cc:</B> paleopsych@paleopsych.org;
jz@bigbangtango.net; sjlee@howardbloom.net; kblozie@yahoo.com; Jill
Andresevic; idigdarwin@yahoo.com; BobKrone@aol.com;
ohbeeb@yahoo.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Paleopsych] re: bacterial
engineering and our future in space<BR><BR></FONT></SPAN><FONT
size=4><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR>Joel--The article
you sent, the one below, is not only amazing. It dovetails with
a piece of poetry I wrote as a treatment for a short film in 2001.
<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>As usual, the poem was inspired
immensely by my interchanges with Eshel. Take a
look:<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=5><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could swarms
of robo-microbes<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Made by humans and
biology<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">The techno teams <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">That come from dreams<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">The wet dreams of
technology<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could cyborg microbes by the
trillions<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Launched as space
communities<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Explore the dark beyond our
skies<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Thrive on starlight, climb and dive
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">through wormholes and through
nebulae?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could they re-landscape Einstein’s space
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">And tame time with phrenology?
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could they ride herd<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">on mass stampedes <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">of x-rays and raw
energy<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">corralling flares spat by black holes
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">at the cores of
galaxies?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could genes retooled<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">In swarms of cells<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Become our new
conquistadors?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could they explore<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Galactic shores<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">And synapse reports<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">To our brains?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">From global thinking<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could we go<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">To cosmos-hopping
megaminds<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">One small step for E.
coli<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">A giant step for human
kind?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR> <BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=5><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">The
article:<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR> <BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Retrieved November 25,
2005, from the World Wide Web <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/national/24film.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1132979630-umqKos8HcAa3U8FsuKGPrQ&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/national/24film.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1132979630-umqKos8HcAa3U8FsuKGPrQ&pagewanted=print</A>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 24, 2005 Live From the Lab, a Culture Worth a Thousand
Words By ANDREW POLLACK Your portrait in a petri dish?
Scientists have created <B>living photographs made of bacteria,
genetically engineering the microbes so that a thin sheet of them
growing in a dish can capture and display an image.</B> Bacteria are
not about to replace conventional photography because it takes at
least two hours to produce a single image. But <B>the feat shows the
potential of an emerging field called synthetic biology, which
involves designing living cellular machines much as electrical
engineers might design a circuit.</B> "We're actually applying
principles from engineering into designing cells," said Christopher A.
Voigt, assistant professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the
University of California, San Francisco, and a leader of the
photography project, which is described in a paper being published
today in the journal Nature. <B>One team of synthetic biologists is
already trying to engineer bacteria to produce a malaria drug that is
now derived from a tree and is in short supply. And J. Craig Venter,
who led one team that unraveled the human DNA sequence, has said he
now wants to synthesize microbes to produce hydrogen for energy.
</B>The technology could also be used to create new pathogens or
synthesize known ones. So far, however, most synthetic biology
accomplishments have been like the bacterial film - somewhat bizarre
demonstrations of things that can easily be done with electronics.
<B>Synthetic biologists have</B>, for instance, <B>made the
biological equivalent of an oscillator, getting cells to blink on and
off</B>. To make the bacterial film, <B>common E. coli bacteria
were given genes that cause a black pigment to be produced only when
the bacteria are in the dark.</B> <B>The camera, developed at the
University of Texas, Austin, is a temperature-controlled box in
which bacteria grow, with a hole in the top to let in light. An image
on a black-and-white 35-millimeter slide is projected through the hole
onto a sheet of the microbes. Dark parts of the slide block the light
from hitting the bacteria, turning those parts of the sheet black. The
parts exposed to light remain the yellowish color of the growth
medium. The result is a permanent, somewhat eerie, black-and-yellowish
picture. <BR></B></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><B></B>Scientists involved
in the project said they envisioned being able to use light to direct
bacteria to manufacture substances on exquisitely small scales. "It
kind of gives us the ability to control single biological cells in a
population," said Jeffrey J. Tabor, a graduate student in molecular
biology at Texas. <B>Scientists, of course, have been adding
foreign genes to cells for three decades, and the distinction between
synthetic biology and more conventional genetic engineering is not
always clear. </B>Proponents of synthetic biology say genetic
engineering so far has mainly involved transferring a single gene from
one organism into another. The human insulin gene, for instance, is
put into bacteria, which then produce the hormone. Each project,
they say, requires a lot of experimentation, in contrast to <B>true
engineering, like building a microchip or a house, which uses
standardized parts and has a fairly predictable outcome.</B> "We
haven't been able to transform it into a discipline where you can
simply and predictably engineer biological systems," said <B>Drew
Endy, an assistant professor of biological engineering at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</B> "It means the complexity of
things we can make and can afford to make are quite limited."
Professor Endy <B>and colleagues at M.I.T. have created a catalog of
biological components, which they call BioBricks</B>, which are
s<B>equences of DNA that can perform particular functions like turning
on a gene</B>. Still, since cells differ from one another and are
extremely complex, it is open to question how predictable biological
engineering can ever be. <B>M.I.T. has also begun holding a
competition for college students to design "genetically engineered
machines." The bacterial camera was an entrant in 2004 and was made in
part using BioBricks. Mr. Tabor said the idea for bacterial
photography came from Zachary Booth Simpson, a digital artist who has
been learning about biology at the university.</B> By chance, the
Texas team learned that Professor Voigt in San Francisco
and one of his graduate students, Anselm Levskaya, had already
developed a bacterial light sensor. So the two groups teamed up. The
E. coli bacterium was chosen because it is easy for genetic engineers
to work with. But <B>since E. coli live in the human gut, they cannot
sense light. Mr. Voigt and Mr. Levskaya put in a gene used by
photosynthetic algae to respond to light. The bacteria were also given
genes to make them produce an enzyme that would react with a chemical
added to the growth medium. When that reaction occurs, a black
precipitate is produced. </B>The scientists created sort of a chain
reaction inside the bacteria. When the bacteria are in the dark, the
enzyme is produced, turning the medium black. When the bacteria are
exposed to light, production of the enzyme is shut off. Copyright 2005
The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML
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<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
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face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR> <BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT face=Arial>----------<BR>Howard Bloom<BR>Author
of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of
History and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang
to the 21st Century<BR>Recent Visiting Scholar-Graduate Psychology
Department, New York University; Core Faculty Member, The Graduate
Institute<BR>www.howardbloom.net<BR>www.bigbangtango.net<BR>Founder:
International Paleopsychology Project; founding board member: Epic of
Evolution Society; founding board member, The Darwin Project; founder:
The Big Bang Tango Media Lab; member: New York Academy of Sciences,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, American
Psychological Society, Academy of Political Science, Human Behavior and
Evolution Society, International Society for Human Ethology; advisory
board member: Institute for Accelerating Change ; executive editor --
New Paradigm book series.<BR>For information on The International
Paleopsychology Project, see: www.paleopsych.org<BR>for two chapters
from <BR>The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces
of History, see www.howardbloom.net/lucifer<BR>For information on Global
Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century,
see www.howardbloom.net<BR></FONT><FONT
face=Verdana><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></SPAN></BODY></HTML>