Life's biologic complexity: Automatic molecular actions (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, October 10, 2016, 00:00 (2967 days ago) @ David Turell

Recent experiments which demonstrated molecular machines made use of automatic actions by the molecules involved: - http://www.wsj.com/articles/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-awarded-to-three-scientists-for-de... - "Such tiny machines, including minuscule motors, blades and switches, can be powered by changes in light, temperature or acidity. - *** - "In one of Dr. Feringa's experiments, antibiotics could be switched on and off remotely by exposure to light, potentially allowing the medicine to only target one particular body part. - *** - "For instance, in 2010, researchers at New York University built tiny DNA walkers capable of shuttling gold particles along a microscopic track. In 2013, chemists at the University of Manchester in the U.K. built a nanorobot capable of stringing together amino acids, mimicking the function of ribosomes, the cellular machines that build proteins. - *** - "In 1983, Dr. Sauvage took the first step toward building microscopic gadgets when he linked together two ring-shaped molecules that could move relative to each other to form a chain, known as a catenane. Dr. Sauvage is professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg in France. - "Dr. Stoddart, the director of the Center for Chemistry of Integrated Systems at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, demonstrated a molecular ring in 1991 that could move along a thin molecular axle. 
These simple dumbbell-shaped devices, known as rotaxanes, have become workhorses of the molecular-machines field. Dr. Stoddart and others have used them to bend super-thin gold beams, and as switches in experimental molecular computers - *** - "In 1999, Dr. Feringa built a molecular rotor blade that spun continually in the same direction, becoming the first person to create a true molecular motor. “I could almost not believe it worked,” Dr. Feringa said of his achievement at the time." - Comment: These are all examples of scientists using the automatic reactions of these amazing molecules. This is how cells act automatically . The scientists have no ability to train molecules to do anything. Molecules do what they can do, no more, no less.