US scientists close to creating artificial life: study

breitbart.com ^ | Jan 24 02:44 PM US/Eastern | AFP

[Jeff Gordon]

US scientists have taken a major step toward creating the first ever artificial life form by synthetically reproducing the DNA of a bacteria, according to a study published Thursday.

The move, which comes after five years of research, is seen as the penultimate stage in the endeavour to create an artificial life form based entirely on a man-made DNA genome -- something which has tantalised scientists and sci-fi writers for years.

"Through dedicated teamwork we have shown that building large genomes is now feasible and scalable so that important applications such as biofuels can be developed," said Hamilton Smith, from the J. Craig Venter Institute, in the study published in Science.

The research has been carried out at the laboratories of the controversial celebrity US scientist Craig Venter, who has hailed artificial life forms as a potential remedy to illness and global warming.

However, the prospect of engineering artificial life forms is highly controversial and is likely to arouse heated debate over the ethics and potential ramifications of such an advance.

It is one of the Holy Grails of science, but also one that stirs deep fears as forseen in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World" in which natural human reproduction is eschewed in favor of babies grown artificially in laboratories.

Venter said in a statement: "This extraordinary accomplishment is a technological marvel that was only made possible because of the unique and accomplished ... team."

His researchers had "dedicated the last several years to designing and perfecting new methods and techniques that we believe will become widely used to advance the field of synthetic genomics," he added.

Lead author Dan Gibson said the team had completed the second step in a three-step process to create a synthetic organism.

[Jeff Gordon]

The title does not quite match the content; however, this is still remarkable step.

Those who are put their God in the gaps are finding their God growing smaller.

[Southack]

Pretty intelligent feat.

[utherdoul]

Can they clone me a girlfriend yet?

[in hoc signo vinces]

I’ll take a Jessica Alba or Summer Glau to go please....thanks...

[domenad]

You want to be nagged doubly as much?

Is a threesome with your wife’s clone considered cheating?

[Slapshot68]

[Slapshot68]

“Is a threesome with your wife’s clone considered cheating?”

Nope. Neither is sleeping with the holographic equivalent of your wife (Star Trek).

;)

[fishtank]

Your wife’s clone would be the same as your wife’s twin sister.

Think about it.

[84rules]

Great! Now, all we need for them to do is create a pathogenic bacteria for which we have no natural immunity and for which there is no vaccine! That will be a fun day!

[Victor]

Cue Baron Victor Frankenstein and his *creation*.

[vpintheak]

The singularity comes to mind.

[rickomatic]

Hmmmm....Intelligent design?

[ctdonath2]

“Get your own dirt.”

[Muleteam1]

It’s my understanding that two of the team members are a Dr. Random and a Dr. Selection?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Is a threesome with your wife’s clone considered cheating?

Depends - would a threesome with your wife's identical twin sister be considered cheating? Same thing in biological terms.

[COBOL2Java]

The research has been carried out at the laboratories of the controversial celebrity US scientist Craig Venter, who has hailed artificial life forms as a potential remedy to illness and global warming.

Dr. Venter's assistant was not available for comment...

[GreenLanternCorps]

It;s pronounced Frankenstein (Frawn-ken-steen)...

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Then it will be a simulation of life, but not life.

[VOA]

Great! Now, all we need for them to do is create a pathogenic bacteria
for which we have no natural immunity and for which there is
no vaccine! That will be a fun day!

Some years back at one of the symposia held at Steamboat Springs,
a couple of scientists outlined their proposal for engineering a
new plant pathogen...with an aim to use in studies of what truly
makes or defeats a plant pathogen.

Their proposal was roundly condemned by the community of plant
scientists and plant pathologists.

This has led me to wonder why there's not a groundswell of concern
about this "artificial life" project.

I'm no Luddite, but have concerns.

BUT, if the making of "artificial life" is an inevitibility
given the pace of biochemical/mol. biol. research...I just hope
it's done in a lab in the USA.

And one of the rare ones not overloaded with Mainland Chinese
nationals. Or a stealth Islamic post doc.

OK, guess that makes me a xenophobic racist hater...

[Rick.Donaldson]

Then it will be a simulation of life, but not life.

Ummm no.

If it is a DNA structure that acts like a life form, it’s a life form. Period.