full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sara-Jane Dunn: The next software revolution programming biological cells

Unscramble the Blue Letters


We already have many of the tools that will make living software a ritaley. We can precisely edit genes with CRISPR. We can rewrite the gietnec code one base at a time. We can even build functioning synthetic circuits out of DNA. But figuring out how and when to wield these tools is still a process of trial and error. It needs deep expertise, years of sipicozlaaietn. And experimental protocols are diufilfct to discover and all too often, difficult to reproduce. And, you know, we have a tendency in biology to focus a lot on the parts, but we all know that something like flying wouldn't be understood by only studying feathers. So prmagmoring biology is not yet as simple as programming your cpeomutr. And then to make matters worse, living stmesys largely bear no rlsbnaecmee to the engineered systems that you and I prragom every day. In carostnt to engineered systems, livnig systems self-generate, they self-organize, they operate at molecular scales. And these molecular-level interactions lead generally to robust macro-scale output. They can even self-repair.

Open Cloze


We already have many of the tools that will make living software a _______. We can precisely edit genes with CRISPR. We can rewrite the _______ code one base at a time. We can even build functioning synthetic circuits out of DNA. But figuring out how and when to wield these tools is still a process of trial and error. It needs deep expertise, years of ______________. And experimental protocols are _________ to discover and all too often, difficult to reproduce. And, you know, we have a tendency in biology to focus a lot on the parts, but we all know that something like flying wouldn't be understood by only studying feathers. So ___________ biology is not yet as simple as programming your ________. And then to make matters worse, living _______ largely bear no ___________ to the engineered systems that you and I _______ every day. In ________ to engineered systems, ______ systems self-generate, they self-organize, they operate at molecular scales. And these molecular-level interactions lead generally to robust macro-scale output. They can even self-repair.

Solution


  1. reality
  2. computer
  3. systems
  4. program
  5. resemblance
  6. difficult
  7. contrast
  8. living
  9. specialization
  10. programming
  11. genetic

Original Text


We already have many of the tools that will make living software a reality. We can precisely edit genes with CRISPR. We can rewrite the genetic code one base at a time. We can even build functioning synthetic circuits out of DNA. But figuring out how and when to wield these tools is still a process of trial and error. It needs deep expertise, years of specialization. And experimental protocols are difficult to discover and all too often, difficult to reproduce. And, you know, we have a tendency in biology to focus a lot on the parts, but we all know that something like flying wouldn't be understood by only studying feathers. So programming biology is not yet as simple as programming your computer. And then to make matters worse, living systems largely bear no resemblance to the engineered systems that you and I program every day. In contrast to engineered systems, living systems self-generate, they self-organize, they operate at molecular scales. And these molecular-level interactions lead generally to robust macro-scale output. They can even self-repair.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
living software 5
stem cell 5
program running 4
embryonic stem 4
naïve state 4
software revolution 3
programming biology 3
biological program 3
material called 2
imagine programmable 2
synthetic circuits 2
living systems 2
understand biological 2
computer science 2
cell type 2
mathematical expression 2
genetic interactions 2
genetic program 2
stem cells 2
biological computation 2
biological function 2
solar cells 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
biological program running 2
embryonic stem cells 2

Important Words


  1. base
  2. bear
  3. biology
  4. build
  5. circuits
  6. code
  7. computer
  8. contrast
  9. crispr
  10. day
  11. deep
  12. difficult
  13. discover
  14. dna
  15. edit
  16. engineered
  17. error
  18. experimental
  19. expertise
  20. feathers
  21. figuring
  22. flying
  23. focus
  24. functioning
  25. generally
  26. genes
  27. genetic
  28. interactions
  29. largely
  30. lead
  31. living
  32. lot
  33. matters
  34. molecular
  35. operate
  36. output
  37. parts
  38. precisely
  39. process
  40. program
  41. programming
  42. protocols
  43. reality
  44. reproduce
  45. resemblance
  46. rewrite
  47. robust
  48. scales
  49. simple
  50. software
  51. specialization
  52. studying
  53. synthetic
  54. systems
  55. tendency
  56. time
  57. tools
  58. trial
  59. understood
  60. wield
  61. worse
  62. years