Wireless electrical–molecular quantum signalling for cancer cell apoptosis
nature.comThis is in Nature Nanotechnology,not Nature, by the way, which is not clear from the domain.
Additionally, 5-year impact factor of 39.9 so still very, very respectable.
Would you prefer a subdomain? e.g. nanotech.nature.com
This, if true, is fascinating and more than a little scary.
I'm imagining a situation where someone can somehow send the apoptosis signal to every cell in my body.
You can connect a ~3-10V battery to yourself, which may increase an electrostatic field and deflect the incoming signal.
wait, tinfoil hats were actually working?
Thanks. My tongue is not happy.
In a world of overblown research with hype-y titles, this really takes the cake. I wouldn't get too excited. :P
still cheaper and easier to just use a gun I'm guessing
Sounds very Kabbalistic.
The fun thing about biology is that if there can be something built by a true omniscient creator, then biology is the closest thing to it. All of reality and all of physics is used. It is simply what works no matter how arcane or difficult to understand the concept and mechanisms behind it is. Like all engineering projects there are still physical constrains of course but there is no limit on the technology allowed. There is simply no "cutting edge knowledge" or "unexplored science" to evolution. Literally everything can be applied within the physical constraints of a carbon-based lifeform
It is recursively ingrained into the current spacetime data structure itself [1]. So no wonder.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCSSgxV9qNw Why Is 1/137 One of the Greatest Unsolved Problems In Physics?
The way I like to think of it is that life, most broadly and abstractly conceived, falls like water through the space of possibilities afforded by nature, and there is no limit to how complex that "shape" can be (where "shape" is something in a space of possible combinations of forms, mechanisms, tools that are simultaneously used by one organism, a search space of possible combinations rather than a literal shape).
And whatever "intelligence" it would take to consciously think from first principles to those kinds of shapes, well, there's no upper limit to the possible sophistication that might be required to manually get there. But nature gets there blindly, and uses every possible thing.
> Like all engineering projects there are still physical constrains of course but there is no limit on the technology allowed
Except having to work from a legacy codebase via incremental changes. No way for evolution to explore silicon based life when it kicked off with carbon.
> No way for evolution to explore silicon based life when it kicked off with carbon.
Oh, I don't know. Isn't that what we're for?
But that's not based on evolution/biology anymore.
Yes, we're the primitive, squishy ancestors.
'Analog' FPGA are an interesting window: https://www.damninteresting.com/on-the-origin-of-circuits/ http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.50.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23432601
Abstract
Quantum biological tunnelling for electron transfer is involved in controlling essential functions for life such as cellular respiration and homoeostasis. Understanding and controlling the quantum effects in biology has the potential to modulate biological functions. Here we merge wireless nano-electrochemical tools with cancer cells for control over electron transfer to trigger cancer cell death. Gold bipolar nanoelectrodes functionalized with redox-active cytochrome c and a redox mediator zinc porphyrin are developed as electric-field-stimulating bio-actuators, termed bio-nanoantennae. We show that a remote electrical input regulates electron transport between these redox molecules, which results in quantum biological tunnelling for electron transfer to trigger apoptosis in patient-derived cancer cells in a selective manner. Transcriptomics data show that the electric-field-induced bio-nanoantenna targets the cancer cells in a unique manner, representing electrically induced control of molecular signalling. The work shows the potential of quantum-based medical diagnostics and treatments.
The key part here is that they observe it being selective to cancer cells. That could be huge. But I imagine this on the bench, not a animal trial, so not much exploration of side effects yet