Roll over biology, super computer creates better crops
May 25, 2015 20:06:20 GMT -6
Nugget, Glencairn, and 2 more like this
Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 20:06:20 GMT -6
It looks like the whole approach under the umbrella term of "GMO" is going to get an upgrade. GMO 2.0?
What some saw as toiling away and having set backs, I took as good news for nothing new coming from this area of things. They've gone too far beyond where ethics and proven long term consequence are considered to support even what once may have made sense for breeding to achieve better strain outcomes.
This goes wayyy beyond that.
This isn't one of those super comps that have 666 figure into their serial number or model number or some other weird thing, is it? That would just be icing on the cupcake, wouldn't it?
Source
Working SO hard to play God may just piss off the real one some day, in whatever form He ends up being in. I mean, really....whatever the egg heads think they know for certainty, they are throwing millions of years of natural selection to develop the 'perfection' which exists now right down the crapper ..and figuring they know everything that will do in endless ways within nature.
It's..Hubris. The only word fitting for it, while staying inside the PG-13 environment of our friendly forum here.
..Science started becoming a religion, somewhere along the way. A religion where risks are secondary to outcomes ..or ends justify the means. That is definitely where science stops being anything useful in the traditional sense too, IMO.
For years biologists have toiled away to find ways to make better crops. Now it seems the answer lies with computers. An advanced computer has fully detailed the nanostructure of cellulose, the key to creating more robust grains.
What some saw as toiling away and having set backs, I took as good news for nothing new coming from this area of things. They've gone too far beyond where ethics and proven long term consequence are considered to support even what once may have made sense for breeding to achieve better strain outcomes.
This goes wayyy beyond that.
Biologists were keen to find out more about cellulose — the building block of plants — at the nano-scale level. IBM was able to provide a computer that can create three-dimensional models. The system used was the IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer.
Blue Gene is a supercomputer that has an operating speed at the PFLOPS (petaFLOPS) range. FLOPS (FLoating-point Operations Per Second) is a measure of computer performance,
Blue Gene is a supercomputer that has an operating speed at the PFLOPS (petaFLOPS) range. FLOPS (FLoating-point Operations Per Second) is a measure of computer performance,
This isn't one of those super comps that have 666 figure into their serial number or model number or some other weird thing, is it? That would just be icing on the cupcake, wouldn't it?
It is hoped that the revelations about the structure of cellulose will help scientists to develop better crops — disease-resistant and hardier for different environments. This would be through manipulating the way that cellulose forms to make it stronger and more resistant to a host of plant pathogens.
Working SO hard to play God may just piss off the real one some day, in whatever form He ends up being in. I mean, really....whatever the egg heads think they know for certainty, they are throwing millions of years of natural selection to develop the 'perfection' which exists now right down the crapper ..and figuring they know everything that will do in endless ways within nature.
It's..Hubris. The only word fitting for it, while staying inside the PG-13 environment of our friendly forum here.
..Science started becoming a religion, somewhere along the way. A religion where risks are secondary to outcomes ..or ends justify the means. That is definitely where science stops being anything useful in the traditional sense too, IMO.
