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How do we search for alien life if it's nothing like the life that we know? At TEDxUIUC Christoph Adami shows how he uses his research into artificial life -- self-replicating computer programs -- to find a signature, a 'biomarker,' that is free of our preconceptions of what life is.

Ref.: Michael D Schmidt, et al., Automated refinement and inference of analytical models for metabolic networks, Physical Biology, 2011; 8 (5): 055011 [DOI: 10.1088/1478-3975/8/5/055011]

That is, using a small biopsy from a specific patient, they can generate almost the entire cutaneous surface of that individual in the lab.

that it is possible to isolate epidermic stem cells from patients with different genetic skin diseases, cultivate them and, using molecular engineering as a first step, incorporate the therapeutic genes into each patient's genome to take the place of the one that the patient does not have or that functions abnormally. Afterwards, in the second step, the stem cells would be assembled into patches ready to be transplanted onto the patients.

"What we did in this case -- explains Marcela del Río -- was to transfer a normal SPINK-5 gene to a patient's stem cells and later use these cells to generate skin that could be transplanted to experimental models, such as mice."

Actuator materials producing rotation are rare and demonstrated rotations are small, though rotary systems like electric motors, pumps, turbines and compressors are widely needed and utilized. Present motors can be rather complex and, therefore, difficult to miniaturize. We show that a short electrolyte-filled twist spun carbon nanotube yarn, which is much thinner than a human hair, functions as a torsional artificial muscle in a simple three-electrode electrochemical system, providing a reversible 15,000° rotation and 590 revolutions/minute. A hydrostatic actuation mechanism, like for nature’s muscular hydrostats, explains the simultaneous occurrence of lengthwise contraction and torsional rotation during the yarn volume increase caused by electrochemical double-layer charge injection. Use of a torsional yarn muscle as a mixer for a fluidic chip is demonstrated.