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Scientists create a living organism
Financial Times ^ | 5/20/10 | Clive Cookson

Posted on 05/20/2010 10:39:53 AM PDT by mgstarr

Scientists have turned inanimate chemicals into a living organism in an experiment that raises profound questions about the essence of life.

Craig Venter, the US genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world’s first “synthetic cells” – bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.

“We have passed through a critical psychological barrier,” Dr Venter told the FT. “It has changed my own thinking, both scientifically and philosophically, about life and how it works.”

The bacteria’s genes were all constructed in the laboratory “from four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information on a computer,” he said.

The research – published online by the journal Science – was hailed as a landmark by many independent scientists and philosophers.

“Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity’s history, potentially peeking into its destiny,” said Julian Savulescu, ethics professor at Oxford University. “This is a step towards ... creation of living beings with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved.”

The synthetic bacteria have 14 “watermark sequences” attached to their genome – inert stretches of DNA added to distinguish them from their natural counterparts. They behaved and divided in lab dishes like natural bacteria.

(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...


TOPICS: Religion; Science; Sports
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs
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1 posted on 05/20/2010 10:39:53 AM PDT by mgstarr
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To: mgstarr

“This is a step towards ... creation of living beings with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved.”

We will regret this one day


2 posted on 05/20/2010 10:41:25 AM PDT by mainsail that (Vote Obama: Get 15 salaries and retire at 45!)
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To: mgstarr

What happens if these “bacteria” escape. I doubt that we have any natural resistance to them.


3 posted on 05/20/2010 10:41:58 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (The 0bama regime represents an "Clear and Present Danger" to the US - Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: mgstarr
Did they create it, or did they fabricate it?
4 posted on 05/20/2010 10:41:59 AM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: mainsail that

Indeed we will.

And so it begins.


5 posted on 05/20/2010 10:42:33 AM PDT by mgstarr ("Some of us drink because we're not poets." Arthur (1981))
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To: mgstarr

Sorry, but this is not creation. Taking parts and reassembling them isn’t exactly anything new.


6 posted on 05/20/2010 10:44:13 AM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
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To: mainsail that
“This is a step towards ... creation of living beings with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved.”

We will regret this one day


7 posted on 05/20/2010 10:44:14 AM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: mgstarr

Bookmark


8 posted on 05/20/2010 10:44:23 AM PDT by DocRock (All they that TAKE the sword shall perish with the sword. Matthew 26:52 Gun grabbers beware.)
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To: mgstarr

Does it have a Hawaiian birth certificate?


9 posted on 05/20/2010 10:45:29 AM PDT by jessduntno (Kagan...Filly-bust-her. Bork her. Bork her hard. She needs it.)
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To: mgstarr

Total bunk.... at some point they had to introduce the real thing.

Are they claiming to have created a DNA strand? or just that they animated some inert DNA?


10 posted on 05/20/2010 10:46:08 AM PDT by Safrguns
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To: mgstarr

They are liars! They did not create a living organism from 4 bottles of chemicals. They added DNA to it. That’s cheating. Who invented the DNA?


11 posted on 05/20/2010 10:46:48 AM PDT by DallasDeb (USAFA '06 Mom)
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To: mgstarr
They did not create a living organism. They inserted artificially created genetic material into a living cell - big, HUGE difference.

When scientist take some chemicals, swish it around in a beaker and pour it into a petri dish, where it then begins to grow, call me. Until then, no one has yet to create life.

12 posted on 05/20/2010 10:47:04 AM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: mgstarr
Prevent Grey Goo!! Pictures, Images and Photos
13 posted on 05/20/2010 10:47:45 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: mgstarr

File this under “What can possibly go wrong?”.


14 posted on 05/20/2010 10:48:02 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: Safrguns

A

Quick!!!! We have to move the goalpost

BUMP


15 posted on 05/20/2010 10:48:50 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: mgstarr
The researchers built up the synthetic genome of M mycoides, with its million chemical letters, by stitching together shorter stretches of DNA, each about 1,000 letters long. They then transferred the completed genome into the shell of another bacterium M capricolum whose own DNA had been removed.

They used 4 different strands of pre-existing DNA to do this. They did not create the "life" from scratch. What a huge misrepresentation.
16 posted on 05/20/2010 10:49:44 AM PDT by wbarmy (I decided to be a sheepdog when I saw what happens to sheep.)
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To: mgstarr
Here is another article on this.

If this is indeed true, then the long-range implications could shake our basic worldview. It is easy to see life as magic of a sort. This finding, if correct, means that Steven Weinberg's quip about life being "just a disease of matter" is correct. And that makes life, all life, us included, just "meat machines".

17 posted on 05/20/2010 10:50:30 AM PDT by Joe Brower (Sheep have three speeds: "graze", "stampede" and "cower".)
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To: VRWCmember

Eh. There are exactly two reasons to watch that movie, and they’re only on full display for a short time.


18 posted on 05/20/2010 10:51:19 AM PDT by reaganairport
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To: wbarmy
"They used 4 different strands of pre-existing DNA to do this. They did not create the "life" from scratch. What a huge misrepresentation."

I didn't see this bit. Yes, that makes their "synthesis" a lot less than pure.

19 posted on 05/20/2010 10:51:49 AM PDT by Joe Brower (Sheep have three speeds: "graze", "stampede" and "cower".)
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To: VRWCmember
Good question. I don't know enough biology, but it sounds like a cut and paste and not “creation”. Of course it's not ex nihilo, but the head line makes it sound like we are now G_d.
20 posted on 05/20/2010 10:52:43 AM PDT by throwback ( The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid)
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