Synthetic DNA is a New Hope for Alien Life on Earth

     So what is XNA (xeno nucleic acid)? DNA and RNA are formed of components known as nucleic acids. XNA is any of the chemical analogues resembling DNA but formed of alternative or unknown nucleic acids. While most XNA is unstable, a form well known to research scientists in the field of synthetic life is known to be stable, this is PNA.
     While PNA isn't prevalent on Earth, it is a more likely candidate for spontaneous generation than DNA. Researchers in Xenobiology believe that it is possible to construct all of the parts of a cell to encode, transcribe, and edit XNA. Some of them believe that this is a threshold for science to offer a more optimized model for life. An artificial life-form. A new, and unknown life-form. This is, essentially, alien life made by the hand of mankind.
      There is a large body of work for xenogenetics, or nucleic acid analogues as they are also called, but there is little reason to believe that XNA-based components can mimic all functions of DNA-based components in cellular life at this point. Certain XNA's are valuable right now as sensor components in DNA research. Adding a florescent compound to XNA that encodes a particular DNA strand can isolate binding sites that match the target DNA.
     XNA also may have value as a chemical encoding of information. DNA computing has been proven to be efficient, and can yield results from complicated information. DNA and RNA break down from biological interference, however. XNA is less vulnerable. Some forms of XNA can encode DNA sequences, or other information long term. Once decoded, a wealth of information can be transmitted at a molecular level.
     Molecular computing with XNA could yield some surprises. If efficient processes were developed to electronically manipulate metal ligand XNA as a nanobot, and then such XNA could interface with normal computers as well, and if the electrical properties were sufficiently predictable to encode signals, and a reliable mechanism was in place to decode them, XNA could be a super-computing material.
     Regardless of what is done with XNA, it will likely create few surprises for our future. I personally look forward to what can be done. Embrace the future, and brace yourself for surprises.

The Heart of Complexity

    Emergence is a theory that has very old roots, but is now being more carefully considered. The reasons why it is being reconsidered as a serious subtext to classical physics may have a lot to do with technical progress. Computer systems, and other man-made systems are rapidly gaining complexity.
    Complexity and emergence are considered to be highly related, especially in regards to complex adaptive systems. Given the fact that man-kind has proven to be easily fooled by low-level AI systems, it will be increasingly important to prove the validity of AI research by proving the system to be both adaptable and complex. Neural networks, which are currently the gold standard of AI research, have proven to be both.
     If you were to ask what powers the emergent properties of deep learning , the answer would undoubtedly be neural networks. These neural networks pattern data in way that could be roughly considered to be a form of learning. Pattern recognition is the technical term that is used, because both cognitive research and computing research built around interactions with humans have revealed that humans learn in much more complex ways. Some cognitive researchers suggest that there are many different modes of learning that humans utilize which are individually known as learning styles.
     In physics there is another way that emergence and complexity have served our understanding. Physical particles drive interactions in nature, but there are many natural phenomenon which outstrip the ability of individual particles. Mathematically, however, these phenomenon can be quantized into particle-like "chunks" of energy or information called quasiparticles. These quasiparticles are best understood as a complex emergent property of matter and energy that underlay sound, heat, electrical conduction, and many other important physical interactions.
     Regardless of its application, emergence is the heart of complexity. It is the prize that many scientific and engineering challenges of today are seeking. And it only seems natural that after over a hundred years of reductionist philosophy in science that revelations would come forth that many aspects of nature are more than a sum of their parts.

Quasiparticles and Emergence

ribbonfarm.com: quasiparticles and emergence

Choosing a focal point.

     Life may seem random at times. Sometimes it actually is. Most of the time, however, the daily events of your life come from previous decisions. We work and rework old decisions until they become tired, exhausted, and miserable. Effective living comes from powerful and focused decisions.
     There are general rules to making decisions that help. No excuses; You cannot make excuses not to make any kind of basic change when you feel stagnation setting in. Appropriate decisions only: You must keep your focus only on changes that will positively affect your life (and those which you wish to include) in both the short and long terms. Weigh your options; Even with a stand out option, there are small changes to consider that make it far more doable and likely to happen. Keep moving forward; The best plans are those with contingencies attached, when the worst happens change course to make the best of it.
    Nobody leads the same life, so I won't tell you what life path to take. Work hard at making what's right for you take hold. Few things happen by themselves, and such things rarely lead to the places that focused effort does.
   Work hard for what you believe in, which should be yourself. When you work for others, make it work for you. This is the key to "engagement". A prize-winning worker is someone who feels a sense of accomplishment, and in so doing shines. Philosophy does count in technical work, as well as life. Strive to be your own hero, and in so doing you will improve the world.

On The Frontier of Synthetic Life

     Synthetic life. The very notion of life that is born from the efforts of humanity is daunting. Images are provoked of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. This is far from the true efforts in modern times however.
     Today's adventures in synthetic life may be categorized as mundane experiments in chemical robotics. The search for artificial muscles to increase the abilities of limited robotic kindred has opened doors that are unimaginable in materials research. Plastics have been altered to the point where they are interacting with first electrical components, heat, light, but also with DNA. Research at John Hopkins University has opened up a frontier in soft robotics.
     Hydrogels. The secret word that unlocks plastics into the fields of medicine, robotics, and more. Hydrogels are a plastic built around encapsulated water. The conductivity and behavior of hydrogel materials is chemically alterable, or thermally, by light, or by electricity. The nature of hydrogels has branded them as a smart material.
    Behaviorally, hydrogels are similar to biology. Some are even based around protein materials, blurring the lines between body and machine. Soon, every component of the robot can be based in hydrogel: actuators, conductors, sensors, transistors, or even electrical source voltage (similar to battery or capacitor). Many hydrogels are biologically compatible. I believe the next frontier in regenerative medicine will be hydrogels that will be robotic analogies to many organs, and could even be implanted with your own cells.
    One day we will be altogether too happy for a second chance at life that was borrowed from synthetic analogies of life. Hydrogels will be there to bridge the gap between chemicals, robots, and human medicine in the coming decades of medicine. Given enough time, the treatments that we receive as medical patients will become more and more like cybernetic implants. Time will tell where this will take us as a species, but I don't think that we will be looking back woefully. We will benefit immensely from the material improvement in medicine.

Prediction: Quasiparticles will Create Improbable Technologies

   In physics a quasiparticle is an emergent phenomena of convergent properties acting as if they are particles free space. These phenomena are typically formed of known particles and/or known properties of particles. Many combinations can exist if the physics and underlying mathematics is well-known and consequentially well modeled.

   The most interesting aspect of quasiparticles, other than being an exotic high level application of physics, is that some new applications can emerge from stable quasiparticles that would exceed our current technological abilities. One quasiparticle that I have researched for some time is the exciton polariton. If this quasiparticle can be stabilized into a plasma in freespace, perhaps with intense radio waves and strong magnetic fields, it may be used to create dynamic fields that could move objects without a motor. This theoretical application hasn't been researched by anybody else, but it may be the mechanism behind the controversial "Hutchison Effect". 

   The mechanism that I propose for this is that John Hutchison's tinkering with Van Der Graaf generators and radio wave and microwave sources may have incidentally created some exciton polaritons by combining the proper frequency of photons with the charges freed fro m some electrons in the Van Der Graaf source. If the exciton polaritons can move freely around or through objects they could move the objects by creating a static difference in charges which could cause an electromotive force to arise in a similar fashion to electrohydrodynamics. 

   For those who are skeptics of John Hutchison's work, he admits that he has been unable to really accomplish this effect since 1991. I often double check my doubts by looking for a mechanism, and since parts of his "laboratory" were disclosed in some of his interviews, I found that there could be a mechanism as I described above. Since these effects were akin to a rumored Tesla experiment (which may still be top secret), I thought it was worth the additional time and interest.

   Further possibilities exist for quasiparticle technology. The list could extend to forcefields, tractor beams, programmable matter, and the ability to disrupt the electron repulsion that makes objects impervious (basically passing one solid object through another). Don't look for items based around quasiparticles on store shelves anytime soon, the physics is exotic and not yet well explored. There are a least a century's worth of milestones before we will see practical forcefield devices in use. 

A Controversial Rocket

     When it comes to rockets, for years there has been no choice. Newton's third law of motion dictates that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Conventional rockets utilize propellants to quickly expand and then to push the rocket up as the propellant forces it's way out of the rocket. Ion drives work in a similar manner, but use a high energy laser or maser to free ions from a solid propellant. 

    Recently NASA has done work on a controversial rocket engine known as EMdrive. It is a bit of a game changer as it doesn't use a fuel.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_resonant_cavity_thruster

   As the basis for a new class of rockets used for travel between stars (without using propellant) the EMdrive is in the process of being fully proven as being useful. The problem is that the thrust is very low for the energy used. While this news came to light I was in the process of developing a theoretical rocket drive of my own. Based upon the combination of two verifiable theories, this new device is called a plasma inertial drive. 

Wobbly Beginnings

    Ever since the days of automatons made of complex gear works during the early industrial age mankind has been trying to get something for nothing out of their machines. Eccentricity mechanisms, often found in the wobbly workings of proposed "perpetual motion" devices, were to later inspire inventors such as Norman Lomer Dean and Roy Thornson to create inertia drives. 


    Although many consider the device "untested" the Thornson initial drive has been built and demonstrated to work by many enthusiasts on the subject.


Thornson demonstration device

http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/TIE.htm

     Inertial thrust is an example of how energy itself could be used to create thrust without the constant need to refuel. The current mechanical versions may have too little thrust to be of much practical use, though.

Nuclear Relatives

    My proposed initial drive will be different than the previous mechanical inertial drives in that the high technology developed and used in the Tokamak and other plasma based fusion devices will be used.

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   Plasma would be confined and accelerated by coils in my theoretical device as it is in the Tokamak, with a few key differences. In order to concentrate thrust two separate "cushion areas" will be provided in each of the plasma circuits. This will cause the craft, or at least the internal plasma loops to look somewhat pear shaped. Accelerators will be put near the center of the craft that concentrate and control the flow of the plasma. Hybrid laser/ arc systems or microwave pulse resonance cavities could be used to accelerate the plasma. Ultimately the craft would be driven by a physical law often referred to as "transfer of momentum" which is also the law governing objects in collision. That is to say pulsed plasma collides internally with the magnetic field of the ship, driving the ship forward. As a result stored energy, which is being used in the accelerators actually drives the ship rather than propellant.

Unique Features which May Be Included

I. Coils containing and driving plasma loops
II. Geometrically designed "cushions" to concentrate force and direct it as the thrust for the craft
III. Staged accelerators to control and drive the flow of plasma into cushion area
IV. Vectorial control of plasma thrust to steer the craft (an opposing loop of plasma may be necessary for some "emergency circumstances"... must be kept at low force)
V. A new device called a plasma "flywheel" generator, which is composed of a series of separate self contained loops of plasma which are electrically accelerated and designed to lose energy at different rates, allowing electricity to be generated from their difference in electrical potential.

Ready For "Prime-time"?

    Plasma based inertial drives would be of a class of spacecraft called interstellar craft. It is meant to be a competing technology for EMdrive. Arguably this is a "future technology" and it will take time for the aerospace market to adequately grow enough to "need" such a technology.

   The primary use for conventional rockets currently is to launch communications satellites, with the secondary use being research into conditions in space. Neither space tourism or space industry (such as mining) have been developed in recent years. These will be the kind of uses which would dictate such rocket technology. As interstellar craft only require "re-powering" rather than refueling, the infrastructure required to open space to travel would be easier to establish and less expensive than refueling stations. This means that interstellar craft of some variety would be an eventuality as our society grows to need more resources from space. 

New Research Proves the Validity of Freespace Programming

In previous posts I've discussed Freespace Programming. Optical nodes (among others) in free space create lasting interactions, which could be used to create various effects. Research with spiral lasers has created new particles, with spiral nodes permanently capturing particles in freespace. This research is the proof that I've been waiting for.

With location-based programming and more systematic construction, interesting systems could be constructed. Perhaps even systems with the objective of altering the path of light, radiation, or other objects moving through space. Prismatic or refractive effects could be yielded by placing these new particle nodes along the frequency paths of incoming light, thus allowing the light to be bent around an object. While this application is yet to be proven, it seems sound in theory.

Spiral laser particle interaction creates new particle

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141117093336.htm

Programming in Freespace

   After a previous post called "New Science How To Guide" I added a comment about Freespace Programming without truly clarifying this process.  I wasn't truly very clear about what this entails... it was only a rough hewn concept at that point. There is more to it now, conceptually.
    The concept of programmable freespace is similar to programmable matter. In a field of programmable matter called claytronics an object called a catom, which is essentially a nanoscale robot, is programmed to interact with other catoms. The nanoscale catoms interact like a swarm to form 3d objects. Theoretically any object could be made, as the catoms act like 3d pixels of real matter. This is still conceptual due to the extreme difficulty of making machines and computers on the nanoscale, let alone a whole robot. Regardless the macro-scale modules at Carnegie Melon University are making very interesting progress.
   Programmable freespace is akin to programmable matter, except that it involves manipulating freespace, which is also referred to as energy fields. The space surrounding matter is not empty, but actually contains fields that distort space-time itself. This is useful, but in most materials the fields are too weak to interact effectively to produce anything of interest to mankind. The fields that are strong enough to interact are the electric fields, magnetic fields, and the photon emissions known as electromagnetic waves.
   There are already many devices which are designed to interact with magnetic fields, these are the motors, solenoids, and actuators. However, there is also sciences which can be applied to moving fluids and gases without motors. These are electrohydrodynamics, and magnetohydrodynamics. Neither one of these fields takes into account computing principles or advanced principles interference of waves to produce targeted phenomenon.
     These targeted areas of high or low energy may be thought of as nodes. The location of nodes can be programmed in various ways depending on the design of the system. I've not gotten to schematics yet, but there are a wide variety of methods that could be used. When it comes down to it, the final answer choices will be about the underlying physics, the concept of programmable nodes of interactivity in freespace is still useful regardless of the methods.

   Applications...

   Believe it or not, the most interesting applications of this new concept are force fields, and invisibility cloaks. Matter based invisibility cloaking is being done currently, but is limited by wave length. Wave length shouldn't an issue with nodal lensing techniques, so all frequencies of visible light may be curved around the cloaked object the same way. Ballistic deflection (active deflection force field) would be done in a similar manner, by moving ballistics and their generated forces around an object. Nodal energies would have to be high enough to move ballistics in motion in a vector path away from the shielded object (this may imply different methods used for this application than the cloak, though the theory is the same.)

    The energy expenditure of effective force fields, and invisibility cloaks would necessarily be high due to these being active systems. Any system based on continuous usage of energy to generate large fields that deflect light or ballistics would be high. Usage of such technology, if it is pursued, then must be well managed. It is certainly going to be useful, regardless of what anybody may say of its drawbacks.
   
   

Declaration of Geekdom

    With all the hype in technology, it seems hard to believe, but humans
need a little development too. We are the technology, or rather, our understanding of the technologies enable them to be used. The most savvy, the most developed in these uses of technology are referred to as the geeks.

   I am one of these elite. I strive daily to understand where we are going in terms of technology and what we can do with it. Whenever the movement in technology is open, as it is starting to become, the geeks become the guidebook in what can be done with it.

    More importantly, when we connect, when we share, when we develop new things together, as a geekdom, then these things take a life of their own. This is the root of the open software, and the open hardware movements. This is the start of the maker movement, and without community, we cannot keep its ideals of openness, and collaboration.

   We must not be too guarded. We belong to the geekdom, and this is a community of friends and kindred spirits.

What is Enzyme Splicing?

     Enzyme-splicing (as I have called it, since before it was officially invented) is a gene editing technique using enzymes to remove or replace targeted genes. Responsibly used, it will solve some of the problems that are inherent with GMO's. Stability issues are resolved, problematic bacterial genes with unpredictable side effects are completely removed from the process.
    There are real issues that can be solved with genetics other than those traditionally solved with chemical agriculture. Growth issues for plants in poor soils can be resolved by reducing the uptake of growth inhibiting minerals or adding nodules to the roots similar to legumes (thus boosting nitrogen fixing w.o. the need for fertilizers). Water conserving traits found in weeds could be added to crops. Yield per measure of water could be increased, thus making farming cheaper.
    Responsibly enzyme-spliced genes are similar to (at least) millennium-old practices of selecting desired traits from crop plants and cross-breeding them. Some evidence exists that for grains at least, the manipulations of mankind predate recorded civilization.  Enzyme splicing is not traceable using the same techniques as bacterial splicing techniques.
   I regard enzyme splicing as the only technique that should be used to manipulate genes, other than the old hybridization techniques. But, as always, it should done responsibly. Our manipulations of nature may outlast us as a species. To deeply and fully consider a manipulation before it is made is always the best practice. Then, as always, test test test... before humanity is introduced to the effects of the manipulations.    

    Responsibility is key in these operations. I had, for many years, predicted the rise of this technology as a more responsible and safe form of genetics. This was before anyone was actually even doing this kind of splicing or even talking about it. Why did I know about it? Nature actually splices genes in this way (using enzymes) occasionally, and commonly blocks expression of genes this way (using enzymes). Nature has operated beautifully for a lot longer than mankind, I assume that it knows best in this case.

New Science How to Guide

Every once in a while scientific fields become so saturated and mature that progress seems impossible. What is needed is a new science. But inventing a science from scratch would take more than a lifetime and acceptance is unlikely. Fortunately, there is a solution. Areas of science that overlap are often under developed. They are also complex. With the science of heuristics, and isomorphic studies (universalization of patterns and rules, which are applicable to more than one area),  and lots of mathematical and concept based research new sciences are possible.

There is a caveat, however. Young sciences, like startup businesses, must behave differently than mature sciences. What is unproven must be tested, whether it's been done, or is thought to be practical. In other words, rather than the unproven being considered false, it is considered possible, if there is any way of approaching it experimentally left at all. This is one of the only ways to produce scientific progress. Scientific method is good for textbooks, but not an effective way of producing progress. The old empirical method of trial and error is best for producing progress in a young scientific field. This is equally true of the areas of overlap between seemingly mature sciences.

Another point to consider is, for a science to be considered and developed further in society, it must be useful in producing something new. With overlap, a lot of old things can be made more efficiently, but new possibilities produce interest. The science must also be relatively open... with no secrets or expensive textbooks. Amateurs often produce more results (with varying levels of success) than experts because they don't "know" that certain things aren't supposed to work. Whatever works, will work... let's just leave the testing to the experts.

Some work in developing these sciences can be done by putting the applicable math and physics in computer code or scripts. Making computer models is sometimes more possible than multibillion dollar projects for amateurs. If you don't know programming, there are many free resources online that teach it. Even free programming tools. Blender (the 3d modeling tool) is relatively open to being coded.. it seems to use python scripting. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual

So to sum it up. Invent a new science by doing the following.

1. Pick two or more sciences with interesting areas of overlap.
2. Define the rules or criteria that enable the sciences to work together well.
3. Test new ideas and experiments to try. Or model them.
4. Viable sciences will create new things, and be able to be learned by an amateur community.

Last of all... if the science doesn't seem to be currently viable. Don't waste the effort that you've already put into it. It may make interesting stories, games or short youtube videos. The inspiration from amateur science may just be what we need to pull our little world from its current stagnation.