Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.
The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.
Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before".
It really does not matter if we think this is a good idea or not, it is going to happen, and happen with increasing frequency as our knowledge base grows.
I just wonder how much longer certain religions can continue to put "butts in pews" as we discover the secrets to the beginning of our universe and life on our planet.
"intelligent design" was not meant to put butts in pews..that is all there is to it...
ReplyDelete( oh BTW...when you have a chance google Oral Roberts University + Investigations....sigh...shocking..)
I hope Mr Ventner's synthetic DNA will leave out all the garbage that clogs up our reasoning ability. That should simplify his task, probably by 90%.
ReplyDeleteAfter 25-yrs in San Diego, I know exactly who will be issuing their own rebuttal to his research. The Creation Science Institute in El Cajon -- Duncan Hunter territory. See, down there, you just step away from the coastline & encounter all the evolutionary throwbacks.
oh & the butts in pews will still be possible thanks to their ability to interpret absolutely anything as god's will, even research that leads to creation of "artificial life". I mean they don't even question talking snakes in trees plotting to kick out humans from the garden of eden? ~~ D.K.
Correction (I should've known things have changed since I was last in san diego): It's the Institute for Creation Research & it's now in Santee (a neighboring city, maybe the neonazi skinheads in El Cajon kicked them out). ok, that's probably more about the san diego area than you wanted to know. I miss it a lot, even with the likes of duke cunningham. ~~ D.K.
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