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Auto follow xenobot6/14/2023 He goes on to elaborate that when these embryonic cells were put into a new environment, they used their multicellularity to adapt and survive. ![]() ![]() Michael Levin, a professor of biology at Tufts, says that it is the first time that kinematic self-replication has been observed in living organisms. With regard to biology, he is interested in seeing how cells develop and communicate with one another to keep up with the changing environment. Only cells and tissues are used to build Xenobots, much like traditional robots. He mentions that they move around in a corkscrew fashion with the help of tiny, hair-like structures called the cilia, amassing other single cells along the way. Douglas Blackiston, a scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, clarified that the cells are not genetically modified, rather they are rearranged to make Xenobots. ![]() Originally, these cells would have developed into the tadpole’s skin. The name Xenobot comes from the African clawed frog, or Xenopus laevis, from whom the cells are harvested. Self-replicating robots offer hope and open new avenues in synthetic biology.
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