Life 2.0
"Earth's extended family is the only kind of life that we've observed, so far, in the universe. This pantheon of living organisms is about to get some newcomers?and we're not talking about extraterrestrials.
Scientists in the last couple of years have been trying to create novel forms of life from scratch. They've forged chemicals into synthetic DNA, the DNA into genes, genes into genomes, and built the molecular machinery of completely new organisms in the lab?organisms that are nothing like anything nature has produced." (Newsweek)
Scientists in the last couple of years have been trying to create novel forms of life from scratch. They've forged chemicals into synthetic DNA, the DNA into genes, genes into genomes, and built the molecular machinery of completely new organisms in the lab?organisms that are nothing like anything nature has produced." (Newsweek)
posted by Pierre at 10:15 AM
2 Comments:
I'm always torn if I should find research like that interesting or scary.
It reminds me a bit of the research that was done on nuclear technology. As with everything it can be used for useful means like making energy, but nobody has figured out what to do with the nuclear waste and it made the A-bomb possible that can destroy throusands of lives easily.
It reminds me of genetically modified plants. They are much more resistant against all kinds of diseases, can produce higher yields and definitely have their positive sides. But nobody knows what other effects they have on the food chain. Are those bees in the US dying because they ate pollen from genetically engineered plants? What are those altered genes doing in our bodies? Can they alter our genome? Does this lead to more allergies and auto-immune diseases?
So now there is somebody creating cell "machines" to produce an anti-malaria drug. Could be very beneficial if it works.
It also researches how to produce a cell that does a specific task. Who makes sure this research can't be turned into powerful bio-weapons? You could for sure also make a cell that feeds on any other cells it finds? Make a cell that produces chemical toxins instead of eliminating these? Make a cell that's designed to eliminate toxins, but it mutates into the opposite?
I'm not against creating something new, but I'm worried that there's not enough thought spent on the consequences of new research.
6:18 PM
Mutation happens in the wild but I think they happens in a much slower pace. What I am worried about is the rapid generation of new kind of 'bio thing'. We will screw this up.
8:11 AM
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