"A few more volts of electricity and he'll be playing the dad on 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'"
Posted on 04/19/2008 5:31:26 PM PDT by Aristotelian
Researchers will gather in London this week to outline plans to promote one of the most audacious, and controversial, scientific ideas of the 21st century - synthetic biology.
The new discipline, established by scientists such as human genome pioneer Craig Venter, involves stripping microbes down to their basic genetic constituents so they can be reassembled and manipulated to create new life forms. These organisms can then be exploited to manufacture drugs and fuels or to act as bio-sensors inside the body.
However, some researchers warn that synthetic biology - which is accelerating at a dramatic pace - also poses dangers. In particular, they fear it may already be possible to create deadly pathogens, such as polio or smallpox viruses, from pieces of synthetic DNA ordered over the internet. In future, completely new - and highly dangerous - microbes could be made this way.
'The major biotechnology companies that sell these DNA segments are careful to try to monitor their sale,' said Dr Philipp Holliger, of Cambridge University's Laboratory of Molecular Biology. 'Nevertheless, it is clear we need to have this field properly monitored.'
The crucial point, said Holliger, who will be speaking at this week's conference, Engineering Life, is that 'scientists are now learning how to design life down to the last letter. We don't know enough to be sophisticated as yet but our knowledge is increasing all the time.'
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Are sci-fi books and movies becoming a reality? Seems so. Boy, I can't wait to see how well we exercise our moral and ethical judgment.
Real life. Accept no substitutes.
This has the potential to backfire on a massive scale.
Gota’ keep those Gov’ment grants coming in. ;-)
Does not look to be creation but the manipulation of life.
I Am Legend
Think I’ll get me one of them $29.99 genetics kits and cook up some delayed onset pneumonic Ebola this weekend, just for kicks.
"A few more volts of electricity and he'll be playing the dad on 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'"
Its only a matter of time before we create new species that are intelligent.
John
I just hope we don't insist on them worshiping us...
Hopefully they will be too smart for that lol.
John
It’s getting harder and harder not to laugh when self-righteous scientists scoff at the notion of intelligent design . . .
.
“The new discipline, established by scientists such as human genome pioneer Craig Venter, involves stripping microbes down to their basic genetic constituents so they can be reassembled and manipulated to create new life forms.”
No fair - they need to start with nothing. Kinda’ like what God did.
“Man may not be descended from the apes, but he is rapidly getting there.” (Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau)
They called themselves wise...
I thought God created life from mud. He molded mud to create Adam and used Adam's rib to create women. How is that creating anything from nothing? Men were created from mud. Women from men.
"We don't know enough "
After a disaster, we always hear the, "we didn't know."
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This time though, mankind might not be around to hear it.
God created the mud. A favorite verse for your Sunday morning enjoyment, from Psalm 139, which is about our creation:
(vs 15)
“My frame was(bones were) not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.”
Notice this is not the womb—but the earth. God knows the location of every little electron, neutron and proton that makes us up. cool, eh?
Back to the article:
“One idea is the creation of organisms that could soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into hydrocarbon biofuels. In this way, synthetic life forms could play a major role in helping in the battle against global warming, it is claimed.”
Great—then the plants will have no source of energy for photosynthesis. They are quite capable of ingesting more than we are presently producing.
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