Scientists have created synthetic life in the laboratory, in a feat of ingenuity that pushes the boundaries of humankinds ability to manipulate the natural world and leaves us all facing the possiblilty of extinction.
Craig Venter, the biologist who led the effort to map the human genome, apologised profusely, and said today that the first cell controlled entirely by man-made genetic instructions had been produced.
The synthetic bacterium, nicknamed Synthia, had been hailed as a step-change in biological engineering, allowing the creation of designer organisms with specialised functions that could never have evolved in nature, but that was before its effect on the human body had been studied.
The team at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, is investigating how the artifical microbes that were designed to make vaccines have evolved over the course of just a few generations the ability to attack the central nervous system, killing victims within hours.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7132299.ece
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00719/craig_venter_13_385_719489a.jpg)
bond baddie or what !
Pete, perhaps your text should match what it says in the link rather than scaremongering crap?
well it made me laugh :p
Awww, I wanted to see the scaremongering crap!
Tbh Ive seen too many horror films to know how bad it could be if it went wrong and devoured the world, but then I know its just as likely as the black hole at the LHC so Im not too worried!
It would be interesting whether its the start of tailormade vaccines for the biggies like cancer.
Im sure when I was a kid I saw an ep of Tomorrows World where they said scientists had been mixing chemicals and noticed bacteria being created, but I guess if it was true it would have been widely known, maybe an april fools joke.
Well it said on the news that it replicated itself 1 million times.
Made me and the missus laugh.
mmm Synthia begins with an S
and T comes after S!!!!!
People, we have a situation!
Were one letter away from a Zombie Apocalypse!
Replicators?
Shotguns at the ready people!!!
Quote from: McQ-BallReplicators?
Shotguns at the ready people!!!
Indeed ! :D
Quote from: SeriousPete, perhaps your text should match what it says in the link rather than scaremongering crap?
They edited the article after I quoted it. They must be infected.
Quote from: NimrodQuote from: McQ-BallReplicators?
Shotguns at the ready people!!!
Indeed ! :D
Oh dear, shall I start building the "ONeill"?
Quote from: PeteQuote from: SeriousPete, perhaps your text should match what it says in the link rather than scaremongering crap?
They edited the article after I quoted it. They must be infected.
In that case it must be like the Dr Who statue things that were on recently, youve been infected too!
Quick, give him the surprise, rear door injection package! :heehaw: :heehaw: :heehaw:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10134341.stm
Quote from: SeriousQuote from: PeteQuote from: SeriousPete, perhaps your text should match what it says in the link rather than scaremongering crap?
They edited the article after I quoted it. They must be infected.
In that case it must be like the Dr Who statue things that were on recently, youve been infected too!
Quick, give him the surprise, rear door injection package! :heehaw: :heehaw: :heehaw:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10134341.stm
KNIGHTY!!!!
shhhh, I dont want them to know Im here..... theyll take me back to the lab :o
no! we cant let them take Knighty! hes our last best hope!
(does that sentance fill anyone else with dread?)
Quote from: PeteScientists have created synthetic life in the laboratory, in a feat of ingenuity that pushes the boundaries of humankinds ability to manipulate the natural world and leaves us all facing the possiblilty of extinction.
no more so than other inventions such as, nuclaer weapons etc...
There is that cool horror movie coming out where they create that synthetic lifeform which is a blob that turns into a kid then freaky girl that goes on a rampage. This reminded me of that. Want to go see it.
Im more interested in the next step - reducing its genome to the minimum required number of base pairs to be viable for life, and in one fell swoop, utterly refuting any (creationist) claims for irreducible complexity.
Also this guys work is much more interesting:
http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/03/30/weekly15-George-Church-creates-building-block-for-artificial-life.html
Creating not just a bootstrapped artificial genome, but a whole cell, from the ground up. 8-)