Passing the chemical Turing test: Making artificial and real cells talk

The classic Turing test evaluates a machine’s ability to mimic human behavior and intelligence. To pass, a computer must fool the tester into thinking it is human — typically through the use of questions and answers. But single-celled organisms can’t communicate with words. Now researchers have demonstrated that certain artificial cells can pass a basic laboratory Turing test by ‘talking’ chemically with living bacterial cells.

(via WSJ)