SciShow - 2021-06-13
Our DNA stores the information that makes us who we are, but that's not all it can do! There are applications for DNA that go way beyond its use for life, like storing data and folding it into complicated shapes. Hosted by: Stefan Chin SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Alisa Sherbow, Silas Emrys, Drew Hart. Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Adam Brainard, Nazara, GrowingViolet, Ash, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: Biological computers https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-data-storage-is-closer-than-you-think/ https://escholarship.org/uc/item/004485qm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714485/ https://news.mit.edu/2016/programming-language-living-cells-bacteria-0331 https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/dna-could-store-all-worlds-data-one-room https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6328/950 https://jbioleng.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13036-019-0211-2 Aptamers https://www.basepairbio.com/what-is-an-aptamer https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21720957/ https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2018.00041/full https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704523/ https://www.bausch.com/ecp/our-products/rx-pharmaceuticals/rx-pharmaceuticals/macugen-pegaptanib-sodium-injection https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010716-104558 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.accounts.9b00167 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7730239/ https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.00434/full DNA origami https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssynbio.0c00235 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5543475/ https://www.idtdna.com/pages/education/decoded/article/practical-applications-of-dna-origami https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-020-00009-8 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927796X19300427 https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/dna-origami-allows-for-3d-printed-dna-bunnies-to-deliver-medication/ https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/02/dialogues-in-research-dna-origami-and-labyrinths https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24963790/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26988942/ https://scitechdaily.com/dna-origami-used-by-mit-engineers-to-identify-vaccine-design-rules/ Nanomanufacturing https://www.nature.com/articles/natrevmats201768 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6493/878.full https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/article/stanford-scientists-use-dna-assemble-transistor-graphene Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DNA_animation.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:German_microdots_World_War_II_Mexico_Spain.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aptamer_biotin.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Base_pair_GC.svg https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/135765.php?from=353525 https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/242138.php https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/84649.php?from=285507 https://www.nature.com/articles/micronano201772/figures/5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DNA-AuNP0022.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transbauformen.jpg https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/242287.php https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graphen.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kohlenstoffnanoroehre_Animation.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DNA_nanostructures.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dnaconformations.png
That gives, "my computer died", a whole new definition.
@sdfkjgh use a sledgehammer
@sdfkjgh you only need to press it, not type :)
Invite me to the funeral...
“Sorry I can’t do my homework, I forgot to feed and water my computer”
@Moses Exodus that's very interesting
What do you do when your DNA cookie is undercooked?
You make it CRISPR.
After watching the video I think it's very likely we will have to click the "accept DNA cookies" button one day
Haaaaaaaaa
DNA 🧬 🧬 🧬
:)
Stop
I hope scientist really keep up with naming stuff like "DNA Burrito" and such, at least next generation will have a less intimidating approach to learning unlike random greek words.
@DeepDive not really, scientist didn't need greek it was just edgy to call things greek and now we're stuck with that
@Coins just because you don't understand a language doesn't mean there aren't those who do. A word like 'evolution' might sound normal to you but to a non English, it's just as "Greek" to them as Greek words are to you. The thing you should ask yourself is why expect it be English, I mean the Greeks and Romans were the one setting the standards way before.
@DeepDive but that's the point. Names should get updated. 'just because you don't understand a language doesn't mean there aren't others who do' I fully agree with that but maybe at the time it was clear as day yet now It's just unintuitive
@Coins If you are seriously suggesting, that we start going through every dictionary, changing words subjectively like in some kind of 1984 bizarro world, then you are out of your mind.
And besides Greek is very much still alive, so I don't really see your argument here.
Also most of the time when we choose these admittingly confusing words it's because they are proper nouns and most of the time it can't really be helped. Just imagine for example that you are trying to document thousands and thousands of ant species. Funding a way to classify each in a scientific way alone would be difficult let alone finding convenient names
@DeepDive not really every word though, just the most frequently used, and it shouldn't just be changed it could be added as a synonym for it.
"A quick primer on DNA" Was this an intentional pun? DNA uses primers to replicate, so I really hope this was on purpose 😂
obvious pun is obvious
Wait I forgot, which protein adds the RNA primer to the unwinded dna ?? Is it rna polymerase? Because DNA polymerase adds the corresponding nucleotides.
@Zero H2O I think you are talking about transcription factors
it was intentional, as well as the optimus 3 prime to 5 prime pun
@Zero H2O maybe im wrong but i think is a transcriptase
cellular biology: "Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power"
A geneticist living in Delft
Cybernetically played with himself
And when he was done
He labeled it "Son"
And filed him away on the shelf.
@William Koch Can't you do it in pig latin?
@Jat Phenshllem you have done more than your fair share, good human, let the great teacher, time do the rest.
@William Koch wait are your related to the och brothers ?
@The Sage Not in any way I'm aware of. Koch is a fairly common German family name.
@The Sage I shall, fellow good human
Imagine programming AI into a biological computer…
@Energy Falcon Im a dad lol that was literally the joke XD
@Energy Falcon I’m glad somebody got it!
This is exactly it ☺️
"Yes, our DNA stores the information that makes us who we are." No, it stores the information that makes us WHAT we are. There's a difference.
DNA + Computers are a WHOLE different type of artificial intelligence.
Excellent video. Never heard the details of what causes DNA to stay together and stick in some ways. Very detailed.
So happy to see SciShow finally talking about aptamers! I do my research on aptamers and they are amazing!
A little correction for the part around 1:50
A hard drive stores data in form of magnetized pins, not in transistors. That's what happens in the cpu.
Not a big deal, just a nitpicky little detail.
@Un Cancer nommé Religion No, a "Hard Drive" (Short for Hard Disk Drive) references the magnetized disks.
A SSD is not a Hard Drive.
Sounds like Portal. GLaDOS meaning Genetic Life at Disk Operating System. No one really helped how they got Caroline into GLaDOS either through algorithms or something a bit more gnostic like Ghost in the Shell.
“DNA is predictable…”
Me with cancer: “yeah… sure it is.”
@pastìccini deliziosi Quantum Physics says no
@Ignite Slick obviously nothing can be predicted to the most precise level. But what I described is more than necessary for weather predictions of the kind that you see on TV
@Vishank Not enough.
You would also need the same thing for all bodies of water.
And for all life forms.
Then you'd get screwed at the first volcanic activity. Which is permanent.
Predictable not stable
And get well soon
I feel like in 25 years, knowledge of how to design DNA and proteins to make micro machines and structures will be so valuable that it will be required learning for engineers.
"Optimus 5' to 3' " -- this made me way too happy 😂
Glad I'm not the only one.
" Tell me you have a biology background without telling me you have a biology background"
@Jared Chauncey For real, though 😂 I may have switched into computer science for my degree, but those two and a half years at university studying biomedical engineering were all worth it just to get that pun 😂
What a fascinating episode. As a computer science student I find this very interesting. I wonder what computers I will be programming on in 10 years or even in 5 if you consider how fast new technologies are being developed.
When I read this title I thought of a rock having DNA
Hey Scishow, as far as I am aware the first (human) information encoded in DNA was actually an art project called "Microvenus" in 1986. It codes for a two dimensional image of a Germanic rune with the meaning of life/earth
As fascinating as this episode was, and it WAS fascinating as I learned more than I knew before, the most fascinating and satisfactory part was when Stefan pronounced the word Voila! properly. Kudos to you. 😊
This may be one of the best, most informative videos you've ever donqe. Thank you.
Love that we have not only discovered the building blocks of all of organic life but that now we are starting to use it in applications never before thought of..can't wait for the future sometimes when cool things like this pop up
Love the channel, been a fan for years. I've noticed that very often the DNA images you use have the wrong chirality
Imagine if each nucleotide base can link to all other bases including itself. Like a DNA with far more combinations. Imagine… the diversity of life you could get from that
I had an idea like this a few months ago. You would make a computer write data onto DNA and put it into a barebones bacteria, then store the living bacteria. When you need the data, you sequence the genome of the bacteria, or a portion of it.
I've heard the concept of using DNA as a storing method in computers probably over a decade ago, glad it's finally starting to happen
I remember this Manga I use to read called Biomega, main character could survive an entire year off a single glass of water while doing physically demanding things. They justify this with this kind of technology. Also there's a bear with a human brain in it, it's like bear in the big blue house during the 'zombie'/economic apocalypse
I am reminded of "Blade Runner." They wrote the code for entire living creatures, including coding in "memories" that seemed entirely real, creating the dilemma: What do you do with technically perfect, artificial, and yet clearly alive "people," who have free will? Are they people, or property?
I'm also thinking of how these created codes can be used to insert entirely artificial genes into existing living organisms. We could end up improving neurons by adding another few molecules, permitting them to live longer, and hold onto our "data" more efficiently, even improving a person's intelligence by boosting mental computing abilities. This would allow mentally challenged people to be "uplifted" to normal or superior capabilities, and bring ordinary people up beyond genius. Geniuses would become beyond a thing we have yet seen. And if done in animals, "uplifted" animals could end up becoming amazing new companions, including them having more rights via the ethics of recognising that sapience grants rights. If we allowed for these insertions to be also in the gametes, every uplifted creature/person would pass on half of their gifts to their kids. External technologies, such as buildings, clothes, and medicine, have already affected the inheritance patterns of existing genes/alleles. It's only a matter of time before we use technology inside ourselves, beyond the artificial implants and external devices/limbs of today.
Watch gattaca if you haven't, film about designer babies its pretty good
@Shannon Tetley The idea of improving ourselves I find appealing. I have a few things I would remove or replace, such as the HIV genes, and my Cystic Fibrosis allele. Obviously the eugenics people had wrong assumptions about what was good and bad, and followed those based assumptions to horrific ends. I don't trust random people to make the best decisions. So I guess I should thank you for bringing that up. We can't avoid redoing the mistakes of the past if we don't being them to mind in the present.
@Reiner Wilhelms-Tricarico I have no illusions about wealthy assholes being kind and generous. One doesn't become a billionaire honestly. And all your points are valid and well-taken. I get into my Sci-Fi headspace, and end up not pointing out what to me seem obvious areas where abuse could happen. For instance, uplifted animals could end up becoming tomorrows slave casts. Obviously, as a Vegan, I would find that horrific. I want all people treated as equals, and uplifted animals, as well as ordinary ones, should have more rights to exist with autonomy, without us being the greatest threat to their happiness and very lives. Thank you for saying what you did. Mature, thoughtful conversation is hard to find online. You brought that here.
@Doug Strangely, as big a fan as I am of Sci-Fi, while I've heard of "Gattaca," I've never seen it. Always heard good things. Thanks for bringing it up, reminding me.
@Herne Webber thanks for your reply. I must say I was mistaken to assume you’re some illusionary techie geek, and i’m glad to see that you may have a lot more wisdom than what your first post seemed to indicate. Btw I’m also often into sci-fi
Always said biology was the future of human innovation and here we are, I LOVE biology
I love this channel because I can usually rely on the information being scientifically accurate, but I had to stop at 0:42 because he called the rungs of DNA nucleic acids. What?!? They are nitrogenous bases!!! DNA as an entire molecule is a nucleic acid. Did no one else catch this???? Maybe have some people fact check before you publish, especially for basic stuff like that.
I feel like I've been hearing the word "nanomanufacturing" a lot lately
7:16 is where my mind exploded. Seeing the real microscope images is INSANE!
Good video. Just one thing. As far as I’m aware, graphene only replaces the conductor in microchips and transistors. There will still need to be semiconductors for the transistor. The advantage of graphene is that it has basically 0 resistance so about 100% efficient conductor even at room temperature.
"A quick primer on DNA" ... I see you Scishow
Honestly, biology is the best way to go for making tiny things. Imagine a petri dish of completely custom designed bacteria that strip carbon, gold and whatever they need from e-waste and form a bacterial mat that deposits the materials into a brand new chip. It’s entirely possible, maybe not that simple but who’s to say
I always knew origami could have innovative applications in science. All it takes is some imagination or a bit of creativity to incorporate that art form.
But can DNA just hang out in a storage setting, without losing data? Does a bacteria have to keep living to hang on to the DNA?
DNA can be stored in a vial for centuries, as long as its sealed properly and temperature controlled. The main issue in nature is when stuff dies, other stuff eats it, but remove the stuff and dna doesn't get broken down e xcept by the carbon 14 decaying
Please do a video on Synthetic Biology - scientists modifying yeast to produce any molecule at the Kiloton scale within a year - Amyris is the most advanced, then Ginkgo and Zymergen.
You know you're a nerd when you get both parts of the "Optimus 5' to 3' " joke
0:41 There is an error - the thing you referred to as "nucleic acid" is actually nucleobase. The term nucleic acid signifies the class of molecules of which DNA and RNA are the main members.
I think there's an aptamer that tempts some cancer cells to eat a radioactive atom, or at least hug the atom close. The atom then goes through some nasty decays releasing both alpha and beta particles mostly into cancer cells. Elsewhere in the body the carrier molecule breaks down and much of the radioactive material is excreted.
It might have been a protein rather than an aptamer. The "Milking the Thorium Cow" video was much more focused on the chemistry of extracting the isotopes from nuclear waste at Oak Ridge and making the drug more than it was focused on what the drug actually was. Periodic Videos is like that. I recommend watching this vid if you haven't. Whatever molecule they used at Oak Ridge I think aptamers might be a good delivery system for molecular scale nuclear warfare against cancer.
Once again mind blown!🤯 but in a very good way! I love science😃
Thinking about how one day we could have a rat whose genome contains the data necessary to play Skyrim.
@David Lowman: Future person holding up a lab rat: But can you play Doom on it?
@sdfkjgh but can it run crysis?
@Just a Nerd: Ah yes, the flipside to that meme. I've seen Doom run on a digital home pregnancy tester, and I've even heard tell of a Beowulf of 15 quantum supercomputers, all running at 0.0000000000000000000000001 degrees Kelvin, just barely being able to run Crysis' title screen.
The Skyrim code would interfere with the rat's genome, making the rat a deformed abomination at best, and just plain dead at the worst. Who knows? Maybe it could become a skeever.
@Xander Pearson: Mebbe it'll become The Spiffing Brit's true final form.
That'll bring a whole new meaning to the term "playing with oneself."
this was one of my favorite scishow tangents episodes!! amanda wacker is great :)
Me: hey buddy why is your hand looking a little bit rotten?
Buddy: oh, I downloaded 600hrs of Southpark to its DNA.
Me: Worth it.
"A primer on DNA" I see what you did there, and i like it!
I dont get it
@Dan DNA uses primers to replicate itself.
Thank you for a scientific approach to research.
I took a Nanotechnology class and in a part we had to design DNA origami with a software (with free software)... Just the structure and needed scaffolds... Not to actually grow it
They should try combining both graphing sheets and carbon nanotube concepts into one thing make nano tubes but each tube is bonded together by one point on the side and then have a line between the points above and below that connection to add structural stability between the two tubes
Reminds me of Star Trek Voyager where the ship's computer is partly biological...made up of "bio packs" if I remember correctly. Who would have thought this stuff is already becoming reality?
orchidcolors - 2021-06-13
I'm impressed that we've gotten this far with using DNA for all this..especially the nano-scale building.
Tommy Huang - 2021-06-14
its really impressive for sure, but keep in mind our CURRENT computers already have building blocks like transistors measured in a few nanometres. Which admittedly is also really insane and impressive lol
Blade of the Ruined King - 2021-06-14
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