The idea for In Silico was first used to describe cellular automata, a kind of artificial life created using a computer and an algorithm. Its first instance in writing comes to us from the Sante Fe Institute, circa 1990.
Today, you can use this helpful distinction to figure out whether that recent covid study was done on humans (just kidding), golden hamsters, isolated neuron cells, or a computer simulation of a spike protein.
Leaving the world of contemporary research, and thinking about the future of hybrid human bodies, we employ the idea of In Silico to mean something completely different --
Artificial fiber spun from liquid crystal elastomer using electricity performs like human muscle fiber
Sep 2021, phys.org
The new technique involved using a process called electrospinning—a decade's old process developed for smart textiles and in some cases tissue regeneration. In their approach, the researchers started with a liquid crystal elastomer (LCE), which is a type of polymer. They created a solution containing a small amount of LCE and sucked it into a very small syringe-like apparatus. They then subjected the apparatus to a burst of very high voltage which resulted in the polymer shooting out of the tip of the apparatus as a very thin stream. The stream was directed at a spinning metal mesh that served as a collector. As the stream dried, it formed into an elastic fiber measuring 10 to 100 micrometers in diameter, depending on the size of the hole in the tip of the apparatus. Testing of the fiber showed it to have properties similar to human muscle fibers such as tensile strength, high power density and quick responsiveness. They also found the fiber could be activated (constricted) using either heat or near-infrared light.
The researchers note that their process is both easy and inexpensive, suggesting it could be used to create fibers for a wide variety of applications.
via University of California Dan Diego: Qiguang He et al, Electrospun liquid crystal elastomer microfiber actuator, Science Robotics (2021). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abi9704
Unrelated image credit: Biocompatible 3D-printed Titanium Alloy w Cells, Cornell University, 2021
Notes:
"Physiological Studies in silico" by Hans Sieburg, in the book The Proceedings of the 1990 Complex Systems Summer School Santa Ee, New Mexico June, 1990.
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