Hello all, Tomorrow night at Edlug Alistair Marshall will be presenting on "Synthetic Biology". I had the opportunity of seeing this talk elsewhere and can highly recommend it. Biological Engineering goes where Computer Science never boldly went, but the analogies and crossovers are startling, as are the legal and ethical dilemmas. Every bug is a wee beastie, and they are actually building real machines today. Nifty.
Usual Edlug place, refreshments and good company and those who choose to find a local watering hole afterwards. Faye has updated the talk page, where you'll find all the details: http://www.scotlug.org.uk/wiki/EdlugMeetings and adds: "Some of us will meet at the Auld Hoose for food first. Afterwards we'll repair to Mai Thai bar/restaurant." Alistair's blurb: Whilst this may not initially sound like this has much to do with Linux and open source code, however there are many similarities. Genetic engineering is now at the stage where we can manipulate individual bits of DNA, so instead of programing with 1&0s we are programing with 'base pairs' or A, C, G and Ts. The possibilities of this are seemingly unlimited. imagine planting a seed and coming back a year later to see your dream house made out of a tree with excellent insulation, heating and utilities already in place or making a bacteria that will sit on your skin and produce sun screen when impacted with UV light. This emerging science has is in a unique position of learning from the computer open source revolution. The ability to program individual bits of DNA is only a few years old and so new standards have to be made and refined, new 'devices' are being produced and published in a public registry. This licencing decisions being made now and in the next few years will have major effects on the science in future. I am an engineering student at the university and am taking part in the IGem (International Genetically Engineered Machines) competition over the summer. Alistair Marshall --- do go there please leave in time to reach the venue. ---- Afterwards we'll repair to Mai Thai bar/restaurant. Special thanks to Joe Barnett for arranging this. www.mai-thai.co.uk -- Yours Faye This time she's the lesser of two evils. http://www.morpheux.org - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can find the EdLUG mailing list FAQ list at: http://www.edlug.org.uk/list_faq.html ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Dan Shearer [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Scottish mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/scottish
