Information transfer is a life principle

Fels D (2009) Cellular Communication through Light. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5086. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005086

People like Popp have been laughed at for their biophoton hypothesis (and experiemntal results) for ages now. Of course, what sounds like Sci-fi can never be true, at least some scientists seem to “know” and thus forget that science is not about believing you know it all. Anything is possible, unless proven otherwise. And then still methods can change.

Nevertheless, here is an excerpt from the abstract:

Information transfer is a fundamental of life. A few studies have reported that cells use photons (from an endogenous source) as information carriers. This study finds that cells can have an influence on other cells even when separated with a glass barrier, thereby disabling molecule diffusion through the cell-containing medium.

Hopefully enough for you to want to read up.

Now for the crazy ones out there: doesn’t this sound like a very good start for biological nanotechnology, carbon/silicon hybrid systems?

Allright… enough sci-fi for today

Accelerated aging of wine?

…is being discussed over at khymos.org. Great article, again!

Red wine…

…is a very useful and pleasurable indulgence we at tpog.net do take pleasure in. barrique red wines are amongst our favorites, so this news item had our hearts sparkling ;)

Apparently Italian winemakers are moving away from using oak barrels to age their red wine, and looking to acacia, cherry, chestnut and mulberry instead. All these woods have been used by winemakers elsewhere in the world before, and what I want to know is how, or if, this will affect the taste of my current favourite Italian tipple – Chianti Classico Reserva.

read more at http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?p=1346

Jurassic park

It is far from the focus of this blog, but the headline is remarkable.

Extinct ibex is resurrected by cloning An extinct animal has been brought back to life for the first time after being cloned from frozen tissue.

The technology is nowhere near perfect yet, and the first specimen they tried to clone “newborn ibex kid died shortly after birth due to physical defects in its lungs. Other cloned animals, including sheep, have been born with similar lung defects.”.

How far away from the first extinct species being reborn this way, if at least for a while? What will happen to these animals: will they be able to breed? Will genetic variability be too low?

And, last but not least: when will the tech cross to “engineering”?

[update] There is also a lengthy article in New Scientist, Jan 10 2009: Cover New Scientist Jurassic Park