Are Genes Like Nanobots?

[Zinjanthropos]

As per usual, whenever I think of something, someone else has had the same thought. Not much on this subject but you can’t help but wonder. If you list the things genes can do it appears as if they function similarly to robots at the molecular scale. Things like change shape, move material and move around while doing so. It’s as if nature has engineered, designed & built these little marvels for specific tasks in animal bodies. They are autonomous by looks of things and can self assemble.

So are they living material, bits of information, or natural machinery? Is there any organism alive today that doesn’t have genes? Or can genes exist outside an organism and come and go? Do they need energy and if so where does it come from? Without the food intake of an organism do genes slow down, stop working or die first?

[Syne]

They also have on/off switches that can be operated by the host animal (epigenetics).

[confused2]

Yes, many animals can switch between summer and winter mode .. or even longer term feast/famine cycles - without having to evolve a whole new animal.

[Syne]

Yes, many animals can switch between summer and winter mode .. or even longer term feast/famine cycles - without having to evolve a whole new animal.

That's done by the whole organism, not individual genes.

[confused2]

AI (could be wrong of course)..
"Genes are the underlying mechanism that enable animals to change their hair color to white, or other colors, in a seasonal, genetically programmed cycle. This adaptation is a form of phenotypic plasticity, where environmental triggers (like day length) stimulate changes in gene expression to help an animal blend in with its surroundings and manage body temperature."

[Zinjanthropos]

They also have on/off switches that can be operated by the host animal (epigenetics).

Will the aging gene please turn off. Be nice if it could do that at around 28 yrs old. Maybe it’s affiliated with Time itself. Apparently we have clock genes.

https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publ...20rhythms.

Can we learn anything about time by studying these?

[Syne]

Well, since your biological age is often different from your chronological age, for good or ill, there do seem to be factors that mediate aging.
Personally, I've decided to get in better shape every year, in the hopes of counteracting some aging.

[Zinjanthropos]

Freaky stuff. Stumbled across this:

https://www.sciencealert.com/is-the-y-ch...re-of-men#

Will men disappear? Might not be able to identify as one down the road. Might need to prove it. While male sex chromosome genes are disappearing what happens when there isn’t any left?

Jeez….those movies where male astronauts land on a planet of women doesn’t seem too far fetched anymore.