Robot Scientist Discovers Yeast Gene Function

[1cooldude]

For the first time, a robot has made an independent scientific discovery, identifying the role of several genes in yeast cells. Adam was built using a combination of the most advanced robotics hardware and artificial intelligence software, components that allow the robot to develop its own hypotheses, plan experiments, reason about the results, and then plan further experiments. When investigating the yeast genome, Adam was able to use existing information about the function of known yeast genes to make predictions about the role an unknown gene and then test this hypothesis by observing a strain of yeast from which that gene had been removed.

more... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7979113.stm)

[fleecy]

neat. hopefully the work i'm training for won't be made redundant :)

[mountain_rage]

That is awesome, they have created a research algorithm. This could help in so many areas. If this becomes an effective tool you would only be limited by computational capacity. So lets get all things in check, laborers re already being replaced by robotics, and now scientific jobs are starting to be taken over. If capitalism isn't undone by the current economic turmoil, than extreme automation might. Socialism whether you like it or not will eventually be the only functional model in future society.