Adam is a robot designed to carry out scientific experiments from beginning to end… and everything in between – literally. The whole process is run by Adam from

formulating hypotheses, designing and running experiments, analyzing data, and deciding which experiments to run next.

Adam conducted an experiment on yeast enzymes.

Adam sought out gaps in the metabolism model, specifically orphan enzymes, which scientists think exist, but which haven’t been linked to any parent genes. After selecting a desirable orphan, Adam scoured the database for similar enzymes in other organisms, along with the corresponding genes. Using this information, it hypothesized that similar genes in the yeast genome may code for the orphan enzyme.

The project is being led by Ross King at Aberystwyth University in Wales. It seems pretty cool, but should we start worrying about robots taking over scientists’ jobs now, too? [wired.com]

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