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<DIV><SPAN class=278015214-26112005>Some people think our DNA came here from
space</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=278015214-26112005>encapsulated in bacteria...</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=278015214-26112005></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=278015214-26112005>Steve </SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org
[mailto:paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org]<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></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial
size=3>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As usual, the poem was inspired immensely by my interchanges with
Eshel. Take a look:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
swarms of robo-microbes<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Made by
humans and biology<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">The
techno teams <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">That
come from dreams<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">The wet
dreams of technology<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
cyborg microbes by the trillions<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Launched
as space communities<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Explore
the dark beyond our skies<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Thrive
on starlight, climb and dive <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">through
wormholes and through nebulae?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
they re-landscape Einstein’s space <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">And
tame time with phrenology?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
they ride herd<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">on mass
stampedes <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">of
x-rays and raw energy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">corralling
flares spat by black holes <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">at the
cores of galaxies?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
genes retooled<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">In
swarms of cells<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Become
our new conquistadors?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
they explore<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Galactic
shores<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">And
synapse reports<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">To our
brains?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">From
global thinking<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">Could
we go<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">To
cosmos-hopping megaminds<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">One
small step for E. coli<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">A giant
step for human kind?</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">The
article:</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"></SPAN> </P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt">
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: -0.15pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT
face="Courier New">Retrieved <SPAN style="mso-no-proof: yes">November 25,
2005</SPAN>, from the World Wide Web<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/national/24film.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1132979630-umqKos8HcAa3U8FsuKGPrQ&pagewanted=print<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><st1:date Year="2005" Day="24"
Month="11">November 24, 2005</st1:date> Live From the Lab, a Culture Worth a
Thousand Words<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>By ANDREW POLLACK
Your portrait in a petri dish? Scientists have created <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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 style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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 style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Synthetic biologists
have</B>, for instance, <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">made the
biological equivalent of an oscillator, getting cells to blink on and off</B>.
To make the bacterial film, <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">The camera, developed at the
</B><st1:place><st1:PlaceType><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">University</B></st1:PlaceType><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> of </B><st1:PlaceName><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Texas</B></st1:PlaceName></st1:place><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">, </B><st1:City><st1:place><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Austin</B></st1:place></st1:City><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">, 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. <o:p></o:p></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT
face="Courier New"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></B><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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
<st1:State><st1:place>Texas</st1:place></st1:State>. <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each project, they say,
requires a lot of experimentation, in contrast to <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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 style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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 style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">and
colleagues at M.I.T. have created a catalog of biological components, which
they call BioBricks</B>, which are s<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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
<st1:State><st1:place>Texas</st1:place></st1:State> team learned that
Professor Voigt in <st1:City><st1:place>San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City>
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
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">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
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</FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">----------<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></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>