World’s first living robots

Scientists in the United States have created the

Question: Consider the following statements:
(1) United States have created the world’s first “living robots” named “xenobots”
(2) It has been built from the cells of the African clawed frog
Choose the correct one:
(a) Only(1)
(b) Only(2)
(c) Both(1) and (2)
(d) None of the above
Answer:(c)
Related facts:

  • Scientists in the United States have created the world’s first “living robots” named “xenobots”.
  • The tiny robots have been built from the cells of the African clawed frog.
  • Scientists have repurposed living cells scraped from frog embryos and assembled them into entirely new life-forms.
  • The robots have been named after the species of aquatic frog Xenopus laevis, found across sub-Saharan Africa from Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa.
  • While humans have been manipulating organisms for their benefit since at least the dawn of agriculture, and genetic editing has created a few artificial organisms in recent years, the latest research is a breakthrough because it designs, for the first time ever, “completely biological machines from scratch”.
  • The xenobots can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient) — and heal themselves after being cut.
  • Many useful applications of these living robots include searching out nasty compounds or radioactive contamination, gathering microplastic in the oceans, travelling in arteries to scrape out plaque, etc.

Xenopus Laevis:

  • Xenopus is a genus of African frogs that are commonly known as the African clawed frogs.
  • Two species of Xenopus are regularly used by biologists, Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis. Both species are fully aquatic, and are easy to maintain in captivity.
  • Xenopus is a valuable tool because they are:
  • Hardy, fully aquatic and easy to maintain in the laboratory,
  • Produce eggs year-round,
  • Eggs are a reliable and flexible material for research,
  • Embryos are a good model for vertebrate development,
  • Genetically similar to humans thus a good model for human disease

Links:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/meet-xenobots-worlds-first-ever-living-robots/articleshow/73260339.cms
https://www.ecowatch.com/xenobot-ai-biology-2644880026.html