IBM Takes Us a Step Closer to the Singularity

IBM made history in 1989 when it devised the means to manipulate and place individual atoms. In the famous image shown here, researchers created the company logo from xenon atoms placed on a nickel substrate.


Fast forward 22 years. IBM Research today announced that it has successfully developed an antimicrobial polymer able to target and destroy drug-resistant superbugs, such as the much-dreaded MRSA. (I came down with MRSA after a nasty spider bite a few years back, and I would've paid anything to be rid of that pain.) As IBM describes it here, scientists "have now successfully developed a new biodegradable and in vivo-applicable antimicrobial polymer, which can selectively eliminate the bacteria without destroying the surrounding healthy red blood cells." The nanoscale engineering required to manipulate atoms now bears fruit as devices that operate at the sub-cellular level.

The polymers self-assemble when introduced to water, either in the body or on the skin. The post-assembly structures use electrostatic interaction to locate targeted bacteria membranes and burrow inside them. Because the cells are destroyed, there's no mutation into an evolved, potentially more virulent strain. Unlike prior attempts at similar treatments, IBM's polymers don't attack red blood cells, and they biodegrade within the body so as to be expelled as waste.

In the image to the right, you can see an untreated MRSA cell on the left and that same cell after being hit by IBM's nanoscale polymers on the right. Most people have MRSA on their skin. We're surrounded by it. Fortunately, it only rarely (although increasingly frequently) develops into an infection. Don't be surprised if these polymers end up in everyday products such as deodorant and disposable wipes.


I find it interesting to view this announcement within the context of the technological development Ray Kurzweil discussed in his "Architects of Tomorrow, Volume 1" interview. He predicts the rise of nanoscale devices exactly like this as a key step in greatly extending human longevity and melding humans with machine intelligence. If we can instruct such self-assembling agents to go to specific cells and perform exact tasks, the potential applications are limitless.