Bug-Busting Grows Sophisticated

Credit: William Jacobs, Albert Einstein College of MedicineTuberculosis bacterium The battles that scientists wage against bacteria and viruses resemble chess matches between grandmasters and supercomputers. Highly intelligent people are pitted against entities that aren't conscious but that nevertheless hold two big advantages. Populated by hosts of individually sensitive microchips or microorganisms, these entities can react with lightning speed. And tutored intensively by computer programmers

Written byDouglas Steinberg

| 8 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

8:00

Credit: William Jacobs, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Tuberculosis bacterium

The battles that scientists wage against bacteria and viruses resemble chess matches between grandmasters and supercomputers. Highly intelligent people are pitted against entities that aren't conscious but that nevertheless hold two big advantages. Populated by hosts of individually sensitive microchips or microorganisms, these entities can react with lightning speed. And tutored intensively by computer programmers or the demands of natural selection, they can respond devastatingly to opponents' moves.

Just as IBM's Deep Blue beat then-world chess champ Garry Kasparov in 1997, pathogens such as HIV and antibiotic-resistant bacteria have lately been prevailing against the best-laid plans to eradicate them. In response, scientists have been turning to the newest molecular, biochemical, and genetic techniques. This shift was evident at a Nov. 9 symposium at Rockefeller University in New York titled "Infectious Disease and Antibiotic Resistance in the Postgenomic Era." Since its founding ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here