Heard about Xenobot?
Revolutionary biotechnological invention of 2020
Have we still heard the word ‘Xenobots’? Can we imagine an entity between living things and robots?
For all you know, most of us would answer, ‘No’.
Well, we have read about entities between living and non-living things in our childhood in biology books, that are viruses. Today I am going to introduce you to another one like this one that you haven’t imagined ever!
Yes, the term is ‘Xenobot’.
- What is Xenobot?
The term xenobot comes from an African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). The thing is made from the stem cells of that frog, which is not genetically manipulated at all just the way you think.
It is not more than a millimeter. Simply it is considered as the first living robot.
The entity is the unification of robotics and synthetic biology.
- Who invented this incredible being?
If I have to take the names of inventors, there are 4 persons to grab the place:
Sam Kriegman, Douglas Blackiston, Michael Levin, Josh Bongard. The year was the most recent 2020, the team was from Tufts University and the University of Vermont (UVM). They are biologists and computer scientists.
- How is it made?
It is made up of stem cells from a kind of frog that I have stated previously. Cognizably, stem cells are specialized cells of our body to generate functional cells of the body, that make the particular functional body parts.
Scientists extracted the stem cells (skin) from the embryo of an African clawed frog and kept those in salt water. Then the cells clumped together and earned the state of moving by developing cilia with other cells. Even these cells can do the same thing with the loose cells.
That is how the scientists got the concept of making it. The authors of the paper explain:
“Clusters of cells, if freed from a developing organism, can similarly find and combine loose cells into clusters that look and move like they do”.
‘Kinetic replication’ is a kind of such reproduction.
- Why does xenobot make?
Well, simply it is made primarily to observe the morphogenesis.
If you talk about its’ uses, it can be used in curing neurological disorders (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease). As it has self-repairing properties, it can also deal with cancer-based issues as per described in a recent publication.
- Is it harmful to the environment?
Vividly, as it is made of living cells, it is not harmful to the environment. Even, shortly, it can be used in degrading microplastics of the oceans. So, it is simultaneously usable in biotechnological and environmental fields, being not alike conventional robots.
That is how xenobot is there to comfort our world increasingly.
Even though it can threaten human existence. We are firmly vivid in avail xenobot of making our lives more precious and more reformed.
