RE: What the Heck are 'Abiogenesis' and 'Prebiotic Evolution'? How Much is Known About the Origins of Life?
This was an absolutely fantastic article. Exactly the type of content I like to see on science. Snagged my follow.
The ability and function of simply nucleic acids in an aqueous environment is astounding - especially when simple lipids come into the equation. Really highlights the plethora of possibilities single cellular life could have emerged.
I am working in the Synthetic Biology feild and I have seen DNA first-hand self assemble into complex nano and micro structures. DNA can be synthesized very cheaply and accurately - making designing nanostructures with DNA a very attractive area of nanotechnology.
Some assorted papers are shown below regarding this work.
SciHub if you don't have academic paper access.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-01348-5
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/2017/170320/ncomms14784/full/ncomms14784.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26409777 <<< this is a fantastic paper about using DNA nanostructures as drug delivery vehicles.
You know, in the 1960s the popular vision of the future was that we'd all live in space colonies. Because the big exciting thing going on at the time was the space race. They were totally blindsided by computers and the internet.
Then in the 1990s, the popular vision of the future was cyberpunk, because the big exciting things going on were the internet and VR. It has come true to a much greater degree than the 1960s future, but still, I think we're in for an equally big shock.
What will blindside our generation is biotech. I think it will make unexpected leaps and bounds the same way computing and the internet did in the 80s and 90s.
Maybe there won't be many cyborgs in the future just because we can grow a replacement limb more easily than surgically attaching a robotic one, and most people will prefer the biological replacement. That sort of thing.
As someone intimate with the feild, especially the really crazy stuff, you are very right.
We have been waiting and waiting for a lot of the tech to catch up - now that it is here and we have the computer science to tackle the data; we are in for a wild ride.