http://phys.org/news/2014-12-chemists-artificial-chemical-evolution.html



Scientists have taken an important step towards the possibility of creating synthetic life with the development of a form of artificial evolution in a simple chemistry set without DNA.

A team from the University of Glasgow's School of Chemistry report in a new paper in the journal Nature Communications today (Monday 8 December) on how they have managed to create an evolving chemical system for the first time. The process uses a robotic 'aid' and could be used in the future to 'evolve' new chemicals capable of performing specific tasks.
The researchers used a specially-designed open source robot based upon a cheap 3D printer to create and monitor droplets of oil in water-filled Petri dishes in their lab. Each droplet was composed from a slightly different mixture of four chemical compounds.
Droplets of oil move in water like primitive chemical machines, transferring chemical energy to kinetic energy. The researchers' robot used a video camera to monitor, process and analyse the behaviour of 225 differently-composed droplets, identifying a number of distinct characteristics such as vibration or clustering.
The team picked out three types of droplet behaviour – division, movement and vibration – to focus on in the next stage of the research. They used the robot to deposit populations of droplets of the same composition, then ranked these populations in order of how closely they fit the criteria of behaviour identified by the researchers. The chemical composition of the 'fittest' population was then carried over into a second generation of droplets, and the process of robotic selection was begun again.
Over the course of 20 repetitions of the process, the researchers found that the droplets became more stable, mimicking the natural selection of evolution.
The research team was led by Professor Lee Cronin, the University of Glasgow's Regius Chair of Chemistry.
Professor Cronin said: "This is the first time that an evolvable chemical system has existed outside of biology. Biological evolution has given rise to enormously complex and sophisticated forms of life, and our robot-driven form of evolution could have the potential to do something similar for chemical systems.
"This initial phase of research has shown that the system we've designed is capable of facilitating an evolutionary process, so we could in the future create models to perform specific tasks, such as splitting, then seeking out other droplets and fusing with them. We're also keen to explore in future experiments how the emergence of unexpected features, functions and behaviours might be selected for.
"In recent years, we've learned a great deal about the process of biological evolution through computer simulations. However, this research provides the possibility of new ways of looking at the origins of life as well as creating new simple chemical life forms."
The project is the latest of the Cronin Group's efforts to explore evolution outside organic biology. Other projects have included the development of inorganic chemical cells known as iCHELLs, which are built from molecules of metal and exhibit some of the same abilities as living cells.

And the intellligent atheist has conditioned his brain to belive this

tobechi20:
And the intellligent atheist has conditioned his brain to belive this

News Flash!
Scientists come up with another lie.

a typical nigerian is not interested in this kind of story, he/she is more interested in what his/her pastor says on sunday service. in fact, if you try to educate him/her on this topic then you are a demon ,
they don't even know the names of their african grand parents, all they know is isaac, jacob , nebuchadnezzar, etc

It sounds like the droplets arent evolving but being "evolved" by a robot.

Robot plays with water, media calls it evolution.

IanDiamonds:
It sounds like the droplets arent evolving but being "evolved" by a robot.

Robot plays with water, media calls it evolution.

The robot is modeled for observing and artificially simulating the processes.

DrJoe1:
a typical nigerian is not interested in this kind of story, he/she is more interested in what his/her pastors says on sunday service. in fact, if you try to educate him/her on this topic then you are a demon ,
they don't even know the names of their african grand parents, all they know is isaac, jacob , nebuchadnezzar, etc

Pitiful indeed.

DrJoe1:
a typical nigerian is not interested in this kind of story, he/she is more interested in what his/her pastor says on sunday service. in fact, if you try to educate him/her on this topic then you are a demon ,
they don't even know the names of their african grand parents, all they know is isaac, jacob , nebuchadnezzar, etc

And the irony of all this is that these same deniers of scientific pre-eminence would quickly run to the Hindu, Buddhist or atheist doctors of India for emergency medical procedures, intended to save them from imminent but inevitable encounter with their loving skydaddy.

Sinequanon create a counter thread for this pro evolution thread.

*Mistake here this was a double post*..

plaetton:


The robot is modeled for observing and artificially simulating the processes.

Why chemicals? You'd get the same kind of system usin' just 'bout any other object (say magnets with different polarities and geometrical shapes).

Please clear me up on this issue *take not of the bolded

Each droplet was composed from a slightly different mixture of four chemical compounds

as oppossed to

They used the robot to deposit populations of droplets of the same composition

The fact that we all use a computer is enough evidence that science is always right. How many Christians can tell us what their God has invented recently,apart from pointing at the Sun,Moon and Sky? Nothing!!

IanDiamonds:


Why chemicals? You'd get the same kind of system usin' just 'bout any other object (say magnets with different polarities and geometrical shapes).

Please clear me up on this issue *take not of the bolded

Each droplet was composed from a slightly different mixture of four chemical compounds

as oppossed to

They used the robot to deposit populations of droplets of the same composition

Sorry, I didn't design the experiment, but I understand the concepts and the possibilities.

progresses everyday, science unlike any other field is a field where if someone fails to do something be it an experiment or innovation, another person will. its not like that in art, if leonardo davinci didnt paint all what he painted, nobody will

Religion does the talking,Science does the basic thing. Humanity would probably have gone extinct without Science.

We are still trying to detect how the dinosaurs were wiped out. If Science eventually finds out how to deflect the next possible comet from hitting the earth,some dumb humans will still thank God.

plaetton:


And the irony of all this is that these same deniers of scientific pre-eminence would quickly run to the Hindu, Buddhist or atheist doctors of India for emergency medical procedures, intended to save them from imminent but inevitable encounter with their loving skydaddy.

lolz! very pathetic, Liberians were fasting for 100 days praying for god to remove ebola, instead of funding their health ministry in research for medicine. at last they still depend on foreign vaccines for treatment, and no single response from the sky-daddy yet.
africans won't keep their environment clean to avoid mosquitoes, but will be praying for god to remove malaria. very pathetic.

plaetton:

Sorry, I didn't design the experiment, but I understand the concepts and the possibilities.

Care to explain?

DrJoe1:


lolz! very pathetic, Liberians were fasting for 100 days praying for god to remove ebola, instead of funding their health ministry in research for medicine. at last they still depend on foreign vaccines for treatment, and no single response from the sky-daddy yet.
africans won't keep their environment clean to avoid mosquitoes, but will be praying for god to remove malaria. very pathetic.

Sounds more like God answered the prayers of the liberians. Everyone has got a form of cognitive partisanship we're emotionally pervaded with. It's very easy to see the folly of your mindset, but the question is; Why should you pretend?
We understand perfectly, its a human condition

plaetton:
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-chemists-artificial-chemical-evolution.html



Scientists have taken an important step towards the possibility of creating synthetic life with the development of a form of artificial evolution in a simple chemistry set without DNA.

A team from the University of Glasgow's School of Chemistry report in a new paper in the journal Nature Communications today (Monday 8 December) on how they have managed to create an evolving chemical system for the first time. The process uses a robotic 'aid' and could be used in the future to 'evolve' new chemicals capable of performing specific tasks.
The researchers used a specially-designed open source robot based upon a cheap 3D printer to create and monitor droplets of oil in water-filled Petri dishes in their lab. Each droplet was composed from a slightly different mixture of four chemical compounds.
Droplets of oil move in water like primitive chemical machines, transferring chemical energy to kinetic energy. The researchers' robot used a video camera to monitor, process and analyse the behaviour of 225 differently-composed droplets, identifying a number of distinct characteristics such as vibration or clustering.
The team picked out three types of droplet behaviour – division, movement and vibration – to focus on in the next stage of the research. They used the robot to deposit populations of droplets of the same composition, then ranked these populations in order of how closely they fit the criteria of behaviour identified by the researchers. The chemical composition of the 'fittest' population was then carried over into a second generation of droplets, and the process of robotic selection was begun again.
Over the course of 20 repetitions of the process, the researchers found that the droplets became more stable, mimicking the natural selection of evolution.
The research team was led by Professor Lee Cronin, the University of Glasgow's Regius Chair of Chemistry.
Professor Cronin said: "This is the first time that an evolvable chemical system has existed outside of biology. Biological evolution has given rise to enormously complex and sophisticated forms of life, and our robot-driven form of evolution could have the potential to do something similar for chemical systems.


"This initial phase of research has shown that the system we've designed is capable of facilitating an evolutionary process, so we could in the future create models to perform specific tasks, such as splitting, then seeking out other droplets and fusing with them. We're also keen to explore in future experiments how the emergence of unexpected features, functions and behaviours might be selected for.




"In recent years, we've learned a great deal about the process of biological evolution through computer simulations. However, this research provides the possibility of new ways of looking at the origins of life as well as creating new simple chemical life forms."

The project is the latest of the Cronin Group's efforts to explore evolution outside organic biology. Other projects have included the development of inorganic chemical cells known as iCHELLs, which are built from molecules of metal and exhibit some of the same abilities as living cells.

@bold section 1: Human's "create" models to perform specific task.....that does not prove that this tasks can occur on their own, the reverse is the case.

@bold section 2: "Creating" new simple chemical LIFE-FORMS. Let's see if they can create a life-form without pre-existing life-form then we can talk.

@tobechi20, you are very right, just look at the posts above mine.

So much excitement over Chemicals dropping in a specific way, they have not created a non-existing element nor any life-form yet. They have not even answer any of life's important questions, yet so much excitement over NOTHING.

RikoduoSennin:


@bold section 1: Human's "create" models to perform specific task.....that does not prove that this tasks can occur on their own, the reverse is the case.

This was what yielded my first post, the scientist created the system to yeild desired behaviours. One also needs to question the synthesis of the samples.

@bold section 2: "Creating" new simple chemical LIFE-FORMS. Let's see if they can create a life-form without pre-existing life-form then we can talk.

They should also tell us when the "Created Simple Chemical Life Forms" can talk or Create threads on Nairaland

@tobechi20, you are very right, just look at the posts above mine.

So much excitement over Chemicals dropping in a specific way, they have not created a non-existing element nor any life-form yet. They have not even answer any of life's important questions, yet so much excitement over NOTHING.

One funny thing is they forgot "This is Oil".
Oil on its own does strange things in water, oil will by itself separate, cluster and separate again without a robot

IanDiamonds:

Sounds more like God answered the prayers of the liberians. Everyone has got a form of cognitive partisanship we're emotionally pervaded with. It's very easy to see the folly of your mindset, but the question is; Why should you pretend?
We understand perfectly, its a human condition

and your point is?

plaetton:

Sorry, I didn't design the experiment, but I understand the concepts and the possibilities.

you dont have a bsc in chemistry

you cant perform similar experiment

you cant explain the connection of this to evolution to a small kid

you only searchd the web for science proof of evolution and this is the best you can come up with


but you really belive it just because a professor said so

smh

DrJoe1:


and your point is?

Your detest for God is born out of emotional sentiments rather than empirical facts.

IanDiamonds:


Your detest for God is born out of emotional sentiments rather than empirical facts.

And your love for GOD is born out of empirical facts and not emotional sentiments. Hahahahaha

Dapo777:


And your love for GOD is born out of empirical facts and not emotional sentiments. Hahahahaha

That is only your opinion, I have not made mine yet.

tobechi20:


you dont have a bsc in chemistry

you cant perform similar experiment

you cant explain the connection of this to evolution to a small kid

you only searchd the web for science proof of evolution and this is the best you can come up with


but you really belive it just because a professor said so

smh

I must guess that only a chemistry graduate can understand an experiment like this? Uhn?

I must also conclude that every thing you have been thought in the university, you have performed all the experiments yourself(even when you don't have the materials,you went abroad to perform it) ,before you believed any thing you were thought. All the books you read,all the theories you were taught you didn't believe any of them, until you saw it happening with your eyes and verified all first hand,those you couldnt verify by yourself were taken as LIES by you,right? Have I described you accurately?

IanDiamonds:


That is only your opinion, I have not made mine yet.

What do you mean by my opinion. Aren't you the one that accused someone of hating a thing out of sentiment without empirical facts,one can only guess you love that thing out of empirical fact without any emotional sentiment. No be So?

Dapo777:


What do you mean by my opinion. Aren't you the one that accused someone of hating a thing out of sentiment without empirical facts,one can only guess you love that thing out of empirical fact without any emotional sentiment. No be So?

I didn't accuse him of hating a thing, I accused him of hating God.
Spot the difference?

IanDiamonds:


I didn't accuse him of hating a thing, I accused him of hating God.
Spot the difference?

If GOD is not a thing,then GOD must be nothing(opposite of a thing)? Am glad you are beginning to apply your logic. That's a good start.

DrJoe1:
a typical nigerian is not interested in this kind of story, he/she is more interested in what his/her pastor says on sunday service. in fact, if you try to educate him/her on this topic then you are a demon ,
they don't even know the names of their african grand parents, all they know is isaac, jacob , nebuchadnezzar, etc

The problem isn't about people who always listing to their pastors RATHER some people like you who always think he is more intelligent that people who believe in God BUT couldn't say to himself; this is absolutely a great work from an intelligent mind NOT JUST an accidental work!

Because by the time we put many things into consideration; the TIME they spent, the KNOWLEDGE they share among themselves, how they CAREFULLY chose some elements and purposely REJECTED others, how they chose LABORATORY (where some apparatus were used) instead of OPEN ATMOSPHERE without apparatus to regulate atmospheric conditions, numbers of trials and errors e.t.c then we can conclude that the FIRST life on earth can't just evolve by accident.

tobechi20:


you dont have a bsc in chemistry

you cant perform similar experiment

you cant explain the connection of this to evolution to a small kid

you only searchd the web for science proof of evolution and this is the best you can come up with


but you really belive it just because a professor said so

smh

This is quite silly.
I posted the article for everyone who have an interest in the subject. You are free to read and reread it in order to understand it. If you don't, that's not my responsibility.

If you have the tools, you are also free to do the experiment to get similar results. That's the beauty of science. I am not required to repeat it because I understand the ideas and basic methods used to Conduct the experiment.

And, who do you know that I don't have a B.sc in chemistry

You are very free critique and question the experiment. Just dont t expect that I should be the one targeted for criticism.

And lastly, why are you and many Nigerians so hostile towards scientific enquiry ?

IanDiamonds:
It sounds like the droplets arent evolving but being "evolved" by a robot.

Robot plays with water, media calls it evolution.

Oil, not water. And 'being evolved' does not equate to 'evolving'? Confusing...



Randomly; do not confuse yourself and misrepresent their claims, its implications, etc. They have built a system in which chemicals evolve using artificial means, in this case via robots. Like stated in the article

article:
The chemical composition of the 'fittest' population was then carried over into a second generation of droplets, and the process of robotic selection was begun again.

So it's evolution, except that rather than nature doing the choosing, robots do so. Simple.


Implications are many, eg:

article:
The process uses a robotic 'aid' and could be used in the future to 'evolve' new chemicals capable of performing specific tasks.

And

researchers:

We're also keen to explore in future experiments how the emergence of unexpected features, functions and behaviours might be selected for.

And you do know how many unexpected discoveries have gone on to become of critical value, yes? Ask Alexander Fleming for one.

Also, yes, it could lead to the development of synthetic lifeforms. Capable of reproducing on their own etc etc


I wonder if a similar process could be used to counter the evolution of viruses, bacteria, etc that are harmful to us. So, as bacteria evolve and become drug resistant, whatever chemicals being used in said hypothetical process also evolve to deal with them. That is a long way away though, I think.