Hey this thread is all about diverse imaginative applications. If you keep picking on him maybe somebody will give you, in your French school girl dress, a weggie. [lol]
Actually to bring everybody back to Earth and REAL world possibilities here is an example of the use of nanoparticles to target cancer cells by also shaping them to make an *attractive molecular fit*.
Nanoparticle boosts chemo effectiveness
http://news.yahoo.co...m/nano_chemo_dc
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - By attaching a chemotherapy drug to a microscopic "nanoparticle," scientists have increased the cancer-killing capacity of the drug while reducing its toxic side effects, experiments in mice show.
Dr. James R. Baker Jr. of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor and his team attached methotrexate to a multi-branched synthetic macromolecule called a dendrimer. To target it to cancer cells they also attached folic acid to the nanoparticle, along with imaging agents so they could see what went on.
They found that cells that overexpressed folate receptors on their surface readily took up the engineered particle.
This approach is very similar in principle to how I would like to see neural scanning technology improved by using a more advanced nanoparticle, which would act as a signaling device (like a molecular scale transponder) telling the scanner not just where the activity is in the brain but when specific synapses fire, rest and the *direction* (pathway) of the signal through the neural net.
The importance of this approach is significant in that it would allow fine detailed analysis of neural function and improve the chance of decrypting the operational language and distributed functioning of the brain's neural net. This approach would not just light up the brain but if done right could light up the entire nervous system.
(John Schloendorn)
(Laz)
block radiative mutation through nucleus scale shielding
I'd rather keep the photosynthetic cells post-mitotic and disposable, and shield my stem cells with lots of pigmented epithelial substance, similar to what trees do
I generally agree with you but what I was referring to is also a way to shield the DNA but I am also wondering about how to insert an alternative engineered organelle that could pick up where mitos fail due to mutational damage.
(John Schloendorn)
(Laz)
running around nearly naked
just absorb all of the light, rather than reflecting it - no one will see you. just when the pigment fails for some reason, you're in trouble
Basically we are already on the same page. You are describing the chameleon aspect of the idea. You can alter at will your surface color and patterning to match surroundings.
I just feel that *absorption* should also support function because chloroplasts basically function by a parallel adaptive strategy to mitos except that they use photons of sunlight to help process metabolites and they apply
photosynthesis to actually release O2 and consume CO2 in the presence of light.
IOW I wonder if they could ber modified to act as cellular scale scrubbers for some of the waste products of mitos and perhaps symbiotically supoort eachother by bypassing the lungs for some percent of respiration and in the same process reduce the overall presence of free radical oxygen in the cell that is contributing to aging.
While we could imagine going to gills and other adaptive techniques with late stage biomorphic nano I am also pondering a more subtle and available reason for this transgenic technique. I wonder if it is possible to create a *partner* for the mito that could perhaps dramatically reduce oxidative stress. Chloroplasts by virtue of how they function don't really experience this type of stress but also they could perhaps work inside the cell to strip away excess free radicals while increasing available energy to the body (and brain) AND dramatically slowing aging.
One advantage for this approach to engineering a transgenic second cellular symbiote is that if it could be designed to effectively live alongside mitos in the cytoplasm then it would not only be able to be transfected into the cell of living folks but might pass itself on generation after generation and improve itself through selection pressure over time. The problem is that the effect is only *skin deep*. Maybe the adaptation could be just to skin cells? hmmm [glasses]
BTW 'Justine' (that fits the ABL in the French schoolgirl dress better don't you think?
) ) asexuals don't hate everyone else they just love themselves more. Perhaps some dislike being made to feel unfaithful to themselves but even earthworms can change their (ahem) minds and go both ways. [lol]
Once you are hermaphroditic everyone is a lesbian. [wis]