h a l f b a k e r yOn the one hand, true. On the other hand, bollocks.
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...full of blossoms in the warhead, going
Woodstocky |
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If the seeds were Japanese knotweed, it would remain a
deeply intimidating weapon. |
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Some synbio person with a sense of humour ought to engineer
a few cannabinoid pathways into a bunch of common plants
and then disperse the results. |
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Would that not require as a prerequisite engineering a sense of humour into, for example, a molecular biologist ? That's a hard row to hoe... |
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Depends a lot on the molecular biologist. Molecular biology is
a discipline that lends itself to adventure, and leads one to
the exploration of the several tens of thousands of products in
the Sigma catalogue. Many of them are such things as dreams
are made of, or at least metabolic precursors. |
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//several tens of thousands of products in the Sigma
catalogue// |
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As a bright eyed* young PhD student, anything less
than 300 quid or so would just get bought, same day,
there by noon-ish the next day. Nowadays its about
layers of micromanagement and inefficiency. |
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* Mon-thurs, frequently hungover-eyed on Friday and
Saturday mornings |
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Ah, [bs], the joys of academic freedom - generous budgets,
relaxed health and safety, authority to purchase, turn-on-a-
sixpence commonsense decisions on capital equipment... All
of these things are alive and well if you come across to the
dark side and start a biotech company. |
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Academics, of course, are bound in chains. You wouldn't
catch me in academia these days. |
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//start a biotech company.// |
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Ah, so you're saying I should whiten my teeth and
take my 1", 8 minute fluorescent micro protein gel
what I got 3d printed to some rich Californians? |
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//take my 1", 8 minute fluorescent micro protein gel what I
got 3d printed to some rich Californians?// Hmm. A single
product sounds better suited to a licensing deal from the
start. |
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//Any helpful influence would be appreciated.// What sort
of company are you planning? |
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In principle, it would be possible to bioengineer
aerodynamic-looking trees (pine, redwood, etc.) to
internally store the oxygen produced by
photosynthesis as part of the dead wood in their
trunk structure (essentially becoming a single giant
solid rocket booster) then end their lifecycle with a
ballistic launch which scatters seeds and fire to
neighboring continents selected at random. |
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Oddly enough, the Snap Dragon Vine (no relation to the
familiar snapdragon) does something similar. Once the
seeds have ripened, it starts feeding gas (mainly oxygen,
but with some nitrogen and ethylene) into nut-like seed
pod. The pod is gas-tight due to a latex coating on its inner
surface, and internal pressures can exceed 5 bar. The three
lobes of the pod are held together by a rather ingenious
mechanism which ensures that once one part of the joint
starts to crack, all three joints fail simultaneously within a
few microseconds. The resulting explosion has been likened
to a small-bore pistol shot, and there are credible reports of
(admittedly minor) injuries from flying fragments. The
gravel-like seeds can be thrown up to 20 metres. |
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There is also a weevil that eats the seeds just before they
reach full maturity. It burrows through the pod, moulting
as it does so and cementing its moulted skin into the hole
behind it; if it didn't do this, it would be expelled as soon as
it had bored through into the pressurised centre. |
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NORAD: "Hi, Moscow? Don't worry, those are just geraniums
coming over the North Pole towards you. No need to be
alarmed." |
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Moscow Nuclear Command: (read in heavy Russian accent)
"Phew, that is relief! And thank you for be so thoughtful!
These go to be beautiful in Moscow spring." |
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// notes in my Filofax // |
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I had to look that up. Turns out it's a paper day-planner book or something like
that. |
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// The three lobes of the pod are held together by a rather ingenious
mechanism which ensures that once one part of the joint starts to crack, all
three joints fail simultaneously within a few microseconds. // |
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Has anybody biomimicrised that yet? It sounds useful, a bit like the shutters
on electrical outlets, but more exciting. |
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