What is biosensor technology?
A biosensor is a device which can react in a particular way when exposed to any biological entity which helps us detect specific biological components. It's basically regarded as a data analysis tool and it doesn't always have to include an electronics component. It can be purely chemical and in this case the sensor gives either different colors or smell which can correspond to something. A biosensor can be in the following "common" types:In vivo (inside the body): Where the sensor might be a chip which will transmit important information regarding a drug or a functioning of an organ inside the body.In vitro (outside the body): We have been using these type of biosensors in many ways since a long time such as detecting glucose levels in a body.There are other types which are still under research such as Targeted Biosensing where the biosensor can bypass pretty much everything and reach to the exact location which we are interested in getting more information about. This would also mean that we can test cancer cells, HIV etc because we would have gone directly to the "hard to find" viruses and cells which might get unnoticed in conventional methods. At this note it's about interesting to mention Targeted Drug Delivery which means that the drug acts only to the specified location inside the body which means that the drug won't have to go through or react with something else while inside the body. This would mean that we can now reach directly to the infected area. For example a person is suffereing from a tumour, we can send a set of nanoparticles coated with antigens/antibodies which will attach themselves only to the tumour and of course this would also reduce or eradicate side-effects due to the intake of medicine. I wouldn't go in much detail about targeted drug delivery since you asked about biosensors. If you are interested in knowing more about biosensors I would recommend this book: Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors, although there are many books over the internet which talks about biosensors and since there is an extensive research going on everywhere across the globe, the literature and knowledge about biosensors tend to change and keep an eye out for that!
What are the applications of nanotechnology in biology.?
""We believe biomedical nanotechnology will soon produce major advances in molecular diagnostics, therapeutics, molecular biology and bioengineering," Dr. Nie says. "Already, scientists have begun to develop functional nanoparticles that are linked to biological molecules such as peptides, proteins and DNA." Nanoparticles assume special properties by virtue of their miniature size that distinguish them from larger particles, including changes in color as they grow smaller and smaller. Because of their compact structure, nanoparticles emit light and can act as a fluorescent tag. This makes them highly suitable as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in positron emission tomography (PET) for molecular imaging in patients, or as fluorescent tracers in optical microscopy. Nanoparticles also have advantages over conventional dyes: they fade less quickly, they are less toxic to cells and they can be used in combination to create almost an infinite number of colors. Although nanoparticles are similar in size to biomolecules such as proteins and DNA, human-made nanoparticles can be engineered to have specific or multiple functions. Bioconjugated quantum dots, consisting of different sized dots embedded in tiny beads made of polymer material, can be finely tuned to a myriad of different colors that can tag a multitude of different proteins or genetic sequences in a process called "multiplexing." By chemically binding the quantum dots to particular genes and proteins, scientists including Dr. Nie are developing molecular nanoprobes to rapidly analyze biopsy tissue from cancer patients, to monitor the effectiveness of drug therapy, as scaffolding in tissue engineering, and as "smart bombs" to deliver controlled amounts of drugs into genetically classified tumor cells." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...
Is telepathy biologically possible?
Well, let's think about it logically. Somehow, a thought - or, let's be less specific - information needs to be transmitted from one brain to another. In order to do this, energy in some form needs to carry that information. We don't know of any other way to transmit information. So the sender needs to have some biological method of emitting that energy, which then travels to the receiver, who then needs to have a method of detecting that energy. As it happens, such a system is already in place and commonly used. The sender modulates the passage of air through his trachea, imposing waves of energy onto the airway. These vibrations then propagate through the atmosphere until they arrive at the detection apparatus of the receiver. Inside that apparatus, a taut, drum-like membrane vibrates in sympathy with the arriving signal, translating the pattern into neural impulses which are picked up and interpreted by the brain. We call this system "talking". Other, more complicated systems involving the optical apparatus and visual stimuli have been developed by more advanced cultures. Now, if you're wanting a whole other system to do what is essentially the exact same job, why would evolution favor such redundancy?
What is night vision technology? how it works?
Night vision devices gather existing ambient light (starlight, moonlight or infra-red light) through the front lens. This light, which is made up of photons goes into a photocathode tube that changes the photons to electrons. The electrons are then amplified to a much greater number through an electrical and chemical process. The electrons are then hurled against a phosphorus screen that changes the amplified electrons back into visible light that you see through the eyepiece. The image will now be a clear green-hued amplified re-creation of the scene you were observing.
Will we ever be able to replace our biological processes with technology?
We are already doing some of that. Dialysis machines do what kidneys do, cochlear implants allow hearing by bypassing the ear, eye glasses correct vision problems, there are optical bypasses, artificial limbs, medicines that correct many problems, insulin pumps that take the place of pancreatic functions, and many more. And more are being developed every day.
What abilities could aliens attain biologically by evolution, not by technology that’d make them superior to us, as we’re to other creatures on Earth?
Evolution is a really creative tool, but it has some basic limitations. Everything is only an improvement of what existed before. There is no opportunity to plan ahead or engineer something from scratch. There is a lot of obsolete garbage left in along with the new stuff. Evolution is really sloppy with “good enough” the primary goal, along with the rule “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”Life on Earth has tried some very creative and amazing things. Echo location is one. Electric power generation used to shock prey is another. It would be hard to think of anything that hasn’t been tried. However, on another planet, with an entirely different set of living conditions, who knows what novel and unique things might have sprung into existence?Wheels! No life form on Earth as far as we know has them. Pill bugs can roll into a ball, and those balls do slip through fingers and roll away, often into little cracks where we can’t reach them. But, no wheels as a primary mode of travel.Radio communications. Organic life forms are fully capable of producing organs able to broadcast and tune into radio waves. We have underwater creatures that can sense electric fields, but that never evolved into full blown long range communications. This would give them essentially telepathy.Lasers! We have all manner of light emitting creatures, but none with the optical mechanisms that can produce laser light, or even concentrated beams, which could be used to blind prey, or even kill. Organic life is fully capable of this, but it would require foresight and design on Earth.Active stealth technology, become invisible while moving. Sure, we have octopus, chameleons and cuttlefish with amazing camouflage capabilities, but nothing with the kind of technology that can make them look invisible while moving against a changing background.Sound shock wave weaponry. Many animals can roar, but none are capable of producing sound waves strong enough to cause internal injuries to their prey or predators. This would be especially effective underwater.Shoot fire. As far as we know, only mythical dragons can do this, but it is theoretically possible for organic life.Lighter than air flight. Very possible if not standard equipment for planets with heavy atmospheres.Please comment if you can think of other “super powers” organically possible.
What's the difference between quantum computers, optical computers and biological computers? Are we likely to have them for common retail any time soon?
A quantum computer uses quantum entanglement for computing. Various companies are working on 49 qubit (or larger) devices, but none have yet proven to work successfully (outperforming classical computers.) The technology demonstrations in laboratories so far have been limited to just a handful of qubits— less than 10.Optical computers use light (photons) instead of electrons for computation. Some quantum computers may be optical, but most optical computer prototypes have used standard binary logic (bits) instead of quantum entanglement. Researchers have hyped the ability of optical computers to operate as switches on optical networks to avoid optical-to-electrical conversion, which is inefficient.Biological computers use DNA, RNA, or other organic molecules for computation. Some researcher have demonstrated logic gates built out of genes, or other feedback or control processes programmed into a biologic system. Others have shown how the massive parallelism provided by DNA can be used to solve some sorts of optimization problems.None of these technologies will be common, let alone available in retail form, any time soon. All three are available in laboratories, and a dedicated amateur could probably experiment with the latter two (optical and biological computing.) If any of the current qubit chip development pans out in the next few years, that might be the first of these technologies to see widespread use. But even those would require operating at very low temperatures, so they would need special infrastructure.
Are there any problems that could be faced using nanochips?
nanotechnology has great potential. but it is a technology in its infancy. there as yet no functional applications. problems - if we talk about human implants with a nano interface - well, how will the augmented humans be accepted? likely no tolerance will be shown.