Related papers: SETI in vivo: testing the we-are-them hypothesis
Biological sequence comparison is a key step in inferring the relatedness of various organisms and the functional similarity of their components. Thanks to the Next Generation Sequencing efforts, an abundance of sequence data is now…
State selective field ionization detection techniques in physics require a specific progression through a complicated atomic state space to optimize state selectivity and overall efficiency. For large principle quantum number n, the…
The Gaia hypothesis considers the life-environment coupled system as a single entity that acts to regulate and maintain habitable conditions on Earth. In this paper we discuss three mechanisms which could potentially lead to Gaia: Selection…
A system with artificial intelligence usually relies on symbol manipulation, at least partly and implicitly. However, the interpretation of the symbols - what they represent and what they are about - is ultimately left to humans, as…
Hypothetical existence of other universes gives an opportunity not only to extend the scope of physics, but the scope of biology, SETI, and METI as well. Some steps of the development of alien life concept shall be briefly summarized, then…
Tandem duplication is the process of inserting a copy of a segment of DNA adjacent to the original position. Motivated by applications that store data in living organisms, Jain et al. (2017) proposed the study of codes that correct tandem…
Randomised algorithms often employ methods that can fail and that are retried with independent randomness until they succeed. Randomised data structures therefore often store indices of successful attempts, called seeds. If $n$ such seeds…
One of our long term research goals is to develop systems to answer realistic questions (e.g., some mentioned in textbooks) about biological pathways that a biologist may ask. To answer such questions we need formalisms that can model…
Solar system exploration provides numerous possibilities for advancing technosignature science. The search for life in the solar system includes missions designed to search for evidence of biosignatures on other planetary bodies, but many…
A vast array of transformative technologies developed over the past decade has enabled measurement and perturbation at ever increasing scale, yet our understanding of many systems remains limited by experimental capacity. Overcoming this…
Integrating heterogeneous datasets across different measurement platforms is a fundamental challenge in many scientific applications. A common example arises in deconvolution problems, such as cell type deconvolution, where one aims to…
The pursuit of creating artificial intelligence (AI) mirrors our longstanding fascination with understanding our own intelligence. From the myths of Talos to Aristotelian logic and Heron's inventions, we have sought to replicate the marvels…
In genetic programming, an evolutionary method for producing computer programs that solve specified computational problems, parent selection is ordinarily based on aggregate measures of performance across an entire training set. Lexicase…
In this work we apply methods for describing 3D images to the problem of encoding atomic environments in a way that is invariant to rotations, translations, and permutations of the atoms and, crucially, can be decoded back into the original…
We present a theoretical as well as experimental investigation of a population of self-replicating segments of code subject to random mutation and survival of the fittest. Under the assumption that such a system constitutes a minimal system…
To synthesize peptides alongside the RNAs making the so-called RNA world, some genetic coding involving RNA had to develop. Herein, it is proposed that the first real-coding setup was a direct one, made up of continuous poly-tRNA-like…
Arguments are reviewed in support of the hypothesis that ET would more likely send physical probes to surveil our Solar System and communicate with Earth than to communicate from afar with interstellar radio, infrared or laser beacons.…
The genetic code is nearly universal, and the arrangement of the codons in the standard codon table is highly non-random. The three main concepts on origin and evolution of the code are the stereochemical theory; the coevolution theory; and…
We present a handcrafted neural network that, without training, solves the seemingly difficult problem of encoding an arbitrary set of integers into a single numerical variable, and then recovering the original elements. While using only…
Biological sequence analysis relies on the ability to denoise the imprecise output of sequencing platforms. We consider a common setting where a short sequence is read out repeatedly using a high-throughput long-read platform to generate…