<div dir="ltr"><div>Ok, Dick and Bob,</div><div><br></div><div>I am so glad you are members and listening to my curiosity and questions!
<div>Thank you so much for your responses. I really would like to learn more about it all! <br></div><div>Hope Dick could
give a talk soon and Bob could give a talk next year when you are done with all your current engagements. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Wow, Dick: You actually
worked with Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog), studied, knowledgeable in this topic with hands-on research experience!! That's exciting. I am sure many members would like to hear it. <br></div><div><br></div><div>I include others and the group in this email as John/Peter/Steve/Bob are the committee members who determine the meeting topics and schedules, and the group could raise their hands.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks so much</div><div>Evie<br></div>
</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Dec 4, 2021 at 3:34 PM Dick <<a href="mailto:r.w.wagner@verizon.net" target="_blank">r.w.wagner@verizon.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>Interesting discussion!</p>
<p>I totally understand your frustration😁! I read a summary of the
PNAS article (I think in the Boston Globe) regarding this concept;
with some skepticism, I must admit. I have since skimmed the PNAS
paper (thanks for the link, Evie!) with a deeper understanding of
the authors' thinking. My skepticism remains, both because I'm a
skeptic, at heart, and because of the implications set forth
without verification in the paper. I must add that I am totally in
favor of pursuing the line of investigation set forth in the
paper, however!!</p>
<p>There are a tremendous number of terms used in the paper and in
the summary article that are unfamiliar to the general, educated
audience which naturally lead to confusion and frustration. This
is normal, I think, as our knowledge increases, although it could
probably be less intimidating perhaps. We are in the midst of a
general blending of what used to be separate ('silos' of) physical
science disciplines, including computer science more recently,
with the consequence of term usage that used be well understood
but is now becoming blurred. I have been in favor of such
"cross-discipline" approaches since my grad school days even
though it is accompanied by angst by practitioners of these base
disciplines.😉</p>
<p>I would be willing to discuss and answer specific questions you
may have, if you wish, about the topics raised by both of you in
your discussion. I have a decent background, both by experience
and by reading (studying), about these topics. My first post-doc
dealt with what has become called "prions", and in my fourth
post-doc I worked with Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) as my
experimental animal as I was investigating embryonic development
of the nervous system.</p>
<p>As to the forum of any further discussion: I was hesitant about
replying to your posting as a reply to the general LCTG group
because I do not know the general interest in these topics by the
group and did not want to bore people with further discussion that
has no interest to them. If there is a broader interest in this or
these topics, I propose that there be a session, perhaps during a
potpourri, where questions and general discussion about a more
general, or specific, topic be pursued. (Perhaps similar to
research group discussions about a recent research paper that we
had in grad school). If such a forum is not feasible, I would be
happy to further discuss and answer your questions by direct email
between us.</p>
<p>Take care and be well!</p>
<p>Dick<br>
</p>
<div>On 12/3/2021 6:16 PM, Evie wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Very interesting! Bob,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> It's very interesting because it could be used in many
applications (medical, and even environmental, etc.).<br>
</div>
<div>How did the scientists actually do it in the lab?.....The
process from the stem cells of the African clawed frog
(Xenopus laevis) to xenobots, which are less than a millimeter
(0.04 inches) wide. <br>
</div>
<div>
We all know how AI is installed in computer robots, but how
"bio artificial intelligence" is installed in frog's stem
cells?🤔</div>
<div>
The article explained "The supercomputer came up with a
C-shape that resembled Pac-Man, the 1980s video game." and
"The shape is, in essence, the program. The shape influences
how the xenobots behave to amplify this incredibly surprising
process." 🤔🤔🤔 And I am totally lost reading the <span>Research Article</span>,
Kinematic self-replication in reconfigurable organisms, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/49/e2112672118" target="_blank">https://www.pnas.org/content/118/49/e2112672118</a><span>!🙄🙄🙄<br>
</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
Are prion proteins functioning similar to stem cells?
Dick Wagner's talk on the CRISPR page has terms I am not
familiar with. <span></span> </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Do I ask too many questions? Maybe you could talk about
this in one of the meetings as you have a biochemistry
background.👍</div>
<div>Evie<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 1:26 AM
Robert Primak <<a href="mailto:bobprimak@yahoo.com" target="_blank">bobprimak@yahoo.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<div dir="ltr">I saw that. I chafe at calling this a "life
form", but they have to bait those clicks somehow.</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">I refer you to Dick Wagner's talk on
CRISPR, wherein he chafes at calling a bacterial phage a
virus. Viri are only endemic to eukariotic cells (with a
true nucleus and certain chromosome characteristics). </div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">Similarly, viri have been called life forms
by some (not all) scientists, though they do not fulfill
all the criteria of a complete life form. Then there are
prion proteins, which are self-replicating but lack
other characteristics even viri possess. <span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">(Mad Cow Disease is
caused by a prion, as is Chronic Wasting Disease in
wild deer. And Scrapies in sheep.) </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-8-493#:~:text=Animal%20prion%20diseases%20include%20scrapie,and%20spongiform%20encephalopathy%20of%20primates." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-8-493#:~:text=Animal%20prion%20diseases%20include%20scrapie,and%20spongiform%20encephalopathy%20of%20primates.</a><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">(I minored in biochemistry in college, and
did a tiny bit of grad school before dropping out.)</div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br>
</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">So now we have
synthetic "life" forms. The lines blur even further.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br>
</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The machines are
taking over, and we will be serving them before
long. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br>
</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">-- Bob Primak</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br>
</span></span></div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div id="gmail-m_-35633775959995175gmail-m_-8771295226962392903gmail-m_-2650261699284965843yahoo_quoted_8562037669">
<div>
<div> On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, 08:07:10 PM EST,
Evie <<a href="mailto:et8686@gmail.com" target="_blank">et8686@gmail.com</a>>
wrote: </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div id="gmail-m_-35633775959995175gmail-m_-8771295226962392903gmail-m_-2650261699284965843yiv6112678226">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Very interesting......<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>World's first living robots can now
reproduce, scientists say</div>
<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/americas/xenobots-self-replicating-robots-scn/index.html" target="_blank">https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/americas/xenobots-self-replicating-robots-scn/index.html</a>
</div>
</div>
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