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June 04, 2007

Synthetic Life Coming Soon?

This is both exciting and scary--kinda like a zombie movie:

Scientists in the last couple of years have been trying to create novel forms of life from scratch. They've forged chemicals into synthetic DNA, the DNA into genes, genes into genomes, and built the molecular machinery of completely new organisms in the labâ€”organisms that are nothing like anything nature has produced.
The people who are defying Nature's monopoly on creation are a loose collection of engineers, computer scientists, physicists and chemists who look at life quite differently than traditional biologists do. Harvard professor George Church wants "to do for biology what Intel does for electronics"â€”namely, making biological parts that can be assembled into organisms, which in turn can perform any imaginable biological activity.

For some reason, I'm reminded of Jeff Goldblum's quote from Jurassic Park II:

"Oooh! Aahh!... That's how it always starts. Then, later, there's the running and screaming."

h/t : Glenn

Posted by: Ragnar at 08:40 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 That is nothing. I have approved projects that would curdle your blood.

Posted by: Dr. Dont, Chair of Unnatural Acts, Harvard at June 04, 2007 10:40 AM (hgX7d)

2 This is really the natural progression of science. Sure there will be problems and hurdles but the benefits will vastly outweigh the negatives.

Posted by: Randman at June 04, 2007 11:52 AM (Sal3J)

3 Well I can't say I'm surprised. But yep, this is a bit like a zombie movie coming true. I'm reminded of Dr McCoy on StarTrek when he complained about the transporter beam. Where does a human soul GO if you dissassemble it's body? Even if you re-assemble it somewhere else ... what happened to the soul during the 'inbetween' moments, and did those moments pass in 'normal' time? But then again, hot-air balloons were scary to people hundreds of years ago, so who knows how future generations will look back on all of this?


                     USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at June 04, 2007 02:49 PM (2OHpj)

4 Michael Weaver,

Well if it turns out anything like the project, then future generations will probably build a time machine and come back and kill somebody......

http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=16834

Posted by: doriangrey at June 04, 2007 03:11 PM (XvkRd)

5 I bet the first thing they try to engineer is an indestructable virus - makes sense right?

Posted by: Troofer Hawat at June 04, 2007 03:24 PM (HGqHt)

I wouldn't trust these twits with tinker toys, much less things that could possibly destroy the human race. I'm not sure how these things might be used, and I can see a potential for misuse that might just dwarf nuclear weapons.

Posted by: templar knight at June 04, 2007 04:52 PM (8dlH8)

7 You guys familiar with the Alien movie series' backstory? The "space jockey" - who was an organism at one with his biomechanical spaceship - was ferrying these synthetic organisms when they broke out and killed him. That's how the Nostromo crew found him all those centuries later.

The alien species was created from scratch as a biological terror weapon.

That's creepy enough, but if you get into this bio-mechanical technology far enough, then you're getting into the technology required for the prophesies of Revelation to come true: The living Image of the Beast and the fatal wound that was healed, &c.

Just sayin'.

Posted by: Hucbald at June 04, 2007 05:38 PM (ktfJ2)

8 see a potential for misuse that might just dwarf nuclear weapons.

Actually a nuclear powered dwarf is one of their first projects.

Posted by: Randman at June 04, 2007 06:14 PM (Sal3J)

9 "build a time machine" Now if THAT AIN'T a Manhatten project all it's own, I don't know what is! Just for instance, suppose you could go back in time a treat the seizures of a particular historical 'prophet', and cure him before anyone takes him to seriously. Why NOT? Obviously, that is the tip of the iceberg. Plenty of fiction has been based on the idea of timewar. Maybe the timewarriors will use the synthogenetic soldiers as their agents? Anyway, since we got nukes, nerve gas and germs, I don't know if I can work myself up to much over it right now

USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at June 04, 2007 11:35 PM (2OHpj)

10 Intresting. We can create DNA sequences by order now. If you can master the cell machinery then it may become possible to create synthetic clone tissue/ synthetic clone stem cells. Limitless applications. Say in 2090 you get new non-rejectable heart, lungs, liver kidney when you need them. Create custom immune cells to attack cancer. No embryo, fetus and/or politcal arguments required..

Posted by: Darth Odie at June 05, 2007 10:23 AM (YHZAl)

11 Their already to create the frankenstein monster or do you see a chupacapras on its way to america like in porto rico

Posted by: sandpiper at June 06, 2007 10:41 AM (hm7/x)

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June 04, 2007

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