Retro 6 Leduc

Day Six Monday May 23 2011

Stéphane Leduc seems to be the scientist who coined the term Synthetic Biology in 1912. In some way his experiments and ideas are rather far from what biology does today. Today’s efforts in Synthetic Biology encompass DNA synthesis as technique, the development of a minimal organism by reducing the genes of existing organisnms (top-down approach), the creation of life from inorganic or simple organic pieces (protocell research/ bottom up approach) the design of artificial life using chemical components that are not part of natural organisms (Xenobiology/XNA research) and the arrangement of biological circuits following engineering principles with standardized parts. Nevertheless Leduc’s idea was more general, an attempt of introducing synthesis as a research principle into biology, which had been merely descriptive and analytical before that. In addition, he wanted to explore life by analogy, creating processes that imitate some aspects of life, like growth or movement. The latter aspects open up a wider perspective of research and can be inspiring for science, art and even philosophical discussions about the boundaries and properties of life.

The exhibit at the Synth-ethic exhibition by Roman Kirschner called “Roots” was inspired by such analogies and focuses on the metaphor of biological growth, though it contains inorganic matter and is powered by electrical currents.

Link: Roman Kirschner Roots at the Synth-ethic Exhibition Vienna 2011  Natural History Museum

An important analogy for me is the role of codes. We know about the genetic code formed by the nucleic acids guanine, adenine, cytosine and thymine in the DNA and of guanine, adenine, cytosine and uracil in the RNA. In computer science we use a binary code of electrical charges, mathematics is open to several numerical or alphanumerical codes. We have human languages and writing, the codes systems of sign language and symbols. On another scientific level, we use the code of chemical elements to describe molecules or chemical systems and in physics we have elementary particles. What are the interactions of these codes? Are there connections and hierarchies, analogies and interactions? Which codes are manmade, to have a model for the functioning of nature? Which codes are natural, given and is there a universal code?

So I have just been to the library to get some inspiration and ended up reading books about the psychology of time and the occurrence of improbable events. Such is the fate of the scientist.