Artificial Life Created?

[Phenom]

American biologist Craig Venter is going to announce that he has created the first ever "artificial life form" on Earth at the J. Craig Venter Institute, a U.S. laboratory and research center, using synthetic chromosomes made from chemicals

I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer

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.

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".

The Guardian can reveal that a team

He said Mr Venter was creating a "chassis on which you could build almost anything. It could be a contribution to humanity such as new drugs or a huge threat to humanity such as bio-weapons".

Mr Venter believes designer genomes have enormous positive potential if properly regulated. In the long-term, he hopes they could lead to alternative energy sources previously unthinkable. Bacteria could be created, he speculates, that could help mop up excessive carbon dioxide, thus contributing to the solution to global warming, or produce fuels such as butane or propane made entirely from sugar.

other links:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hI3FcpEMmrHSmxfk66f4gMNwo8QA
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/US_scientist_says_he_created_first_'artificial_life_form'

Thoughts on this?

 

[brixton tower]

Bloody exciting development, can't wait when he starts growing spare body parts or even once that can be regenerated with the same DNA structure- cloning taken a step further. And the Afrikaners can't claim him.

 

[kronoSX]

And the Afrikaners can't claim him?

 

[BCO]

One of the advantages of artificial liufe is that each organism can be specifically designed for only one task, making them super efficient at that task, unlike "natural" organisms that need to undertake a number of vital tasks to survive.

Great news for biofuels production and waste management.