Faxing has been around for a long time, with many improvements made up until now. The latest development? Faxing viruses. You read that right. Researchers at Synthetic Genomics have brought fax machines into the world of tomorrow by creating a fax machine which prints microorganisms.
This isn’t an average fax machine, though. You can’t just sneeze into your own and send it off across the world. The “machine” is actually a highly complex set of smaller machines joined together to form one big machine.
Synthetic Genomics scientists dubbed this advancement a “digital-to-biological-converter”. In testing, they successfully sent the genetic instructions from one device to their own, which converted it into the common flu virus. While it wasn’t the first time a virus had been made by nothing more than DNA parts, it was a first for it to be done without humans being directly involved.
Right now, it can only be used to create simple viruses, but it wouldn’t be hard to adapt it into building bigger bacteria or even larger organisms.
This invention is actually a lot bigger than one might think, too. When it comes to discovering what disease is affecting people, especially in large outbreaks, time is of the utmost. Being able to fax samples from the infected area to a research facility saves precious hours and can most certainly save lives.
And, of course, to think of the future possibilities of such technology is just as interesting. If we can send and create viruses, we could, theoretically, send and create almost anything. We’ve already got 3D printers, which can be used to quickly and easily create houses, furniture, and almost anything else inorganic. It might not be long until we can create actual organisms to help colonize other planets.
While this development doesn’t affect you, it does go to show that anything can really be improved and adapted to better fit your needs. Faxing, the ‘dead’ technology, just made a huge leap into becoming a future technology.
And for those looking to stay more down-to-earth for faxing, try Crosby Fax® for free today with a 1-month free trial! Or, if you have any questions, give us a call at 0333 315 0000.
