Niko McCarty explains hyperspectral cameras and discusses experimental sensing of biological signatures, including engineered microbes and plants. He distinguishes those proposed applications from his interest in measuring naturally occurring molecules without releasing engineered organisms.
McCarty describes funding the collection of molecular spectral data and lower-cost sensing tools, with potential applications in environmental monitoring and non-destructive microscopy. He notes that detecting weak signals at a distance and differentiating them from noise remain practical challenges.
The conversation turns to synthetic biology and machine learning. McCarty argues that AI may help design biological functions before their mechanisms are fully understood, while researchers investigate those mechanisms afterward. The speakers discuss these possibilities as research directions rather than established results.
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