<![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> I wonder if these viruses could be used to economically extract dissolved gold from sea water...

nygenxer

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> @mik3cap: Read Annalee Newitz's comment.

The only thing I could see going wrong is when they get out of the manufacturing phase and get into the product phase (Instead of making ingredients for water purification, they are the purification system)

I think anyone who sees people turning gold and it mutating into superplague are thinking dramatically not practically. It would make a good horror story, but a very unlikely reality. After all, it isn't like they manufacture gold atoms!

Once we have that ability, do you really think we will need viruses? We could make a replicator!

Ghede

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> I can't wait for the day when people get sick and turn to gold...!

mik3cap

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> I'm guessing thirty generations before they try to unionize.

Transuranic

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> These technologies are really cool, and have exciting possibilities.

Won't take long for the anti-genetic engineering luddites to start up the shrieking, though. Heck, Europe's afraid of high-yield crops.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> @AdamL: Well, there are always unpredictable outcomes. But viruses who build themselves coats made of metal or gold aren't exactly dangerous. These are bacteriophages, so they only attack bacteria -- it's not like they'll jump inside your body and try to make batteries. Even if they did, it would be hard for them to do that without having access to gold particles and cobal oxide. (No, you don't have those elements in your body.) So I think in this case we're pretty safe.

Annalee Newitz

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> Besides, if a battery virus mutated to replicate itself, wouldn't that just make the battery stronger?

indemnitypop

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> There is absolutely no possible way this could go wrong.

Gann

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> "So we won't be seeing a plague that turns your lithium ion batteries into piles of virus any time soon."

Oh yeah, because scientists ALWAYS foresee every possible difficulty that might arise with a new technology. Like they did with pesticides, lead paint, pthalates and bisphenol a.

AdamL

]]> <![CDATA[A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses]]> See? All this time, we've already had nanotechnology. We just had to figure out its programming instructions.

braak

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