Quoting the article:
Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.
Found the video for this
The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.
The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.
The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms.
Dr Craig Venter says yeast, chemicals, and computers were used by scientists
The researchers hope eventually to design bacterial cells that will produce medicines and fuels and even absorb greenhouse gases.
........
Professor Julian Savulescu, from the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, said the potential of this science was "in the far future, but real and significant".
"But the risks are also unparalleled," he continued. "We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse.
"These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm."
Here's the link to the full article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10132762.stm
Personally,the number of uses for this technology,and their implications,boggle my mind.
One of which would be
*EDIT* "It's replicated over a billion times now" I just heard this on the bbc"

Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.
Found the video for this
The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.
The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.
The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms.
Dr Craig Venter says yeast, chemicals, and computers were used by scientists
The researchers hope eventually to design bacterial cells that will produce medicines and fuels and even absorb greenhouse gases.
........
Professor Julian Savulescu, from the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, said the potential of this science was "in the far future, but real and significant".
"But the risks are also unparalleled," he continued. "We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse.
"These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm."
Here's the link to the full article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10132762.stm
Personally,the number of uses for this technology,and their implications,boggle my mind.
One of which would be

*EDIT* "It's replicated over a billion times now" I just heard this on the bbc"