*UPDATED*'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists *VIDEO*
- Thread starter PurpleSky
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Haven't you heard? You don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink!Ham_authority95 said:
No,it's not that we will create zombies physicaly,it's like it says :Undead Warfare said:
"These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable"
We'd just be able to create a virus than turns people into mindless killing machines.
I look forward to when we start making custom life, rather than just copying what already exists. Something with more than one cell would be nice, limbed life is where it gets exciting.
Til then it's pretty much just spiting god, which I'm all for, but not really practical.
Til then it's pretty much just spiting god, which I'm all for, but not really practical.
Ehh - it's not REALLY new life. It's synthetic life. Make no mistake, what Dr. Venter has done is a considerable achievement. He has chemically synthesized an entire genome (albeit a very small genome).
He has re-created life, but apart from conferring antibiotic resistance to this organism (which is not difficult to do, anyone with half a brain and the appropriate plasmid and a warm water bath can do that) he hasn't actually created anything - he has synthesized an already existing organism.
However, it is still an extremely impressive goal. He has proven that technology allows us to chemically create very large chromosomes and package them correctly. Then again, bacterial/fungal genomes are not as complicated as human genomes, what with the chromatin and the DNA packing using the histones and what not. So synthesizing complex eukaryotes is still waaaaay off into the future. But he's proven that he can synthesize bacteria and almost certainly viruses. In combination with one of Venter's other projects, which is to figure out the absolute minimum genome necessary for basic life, Venter's technology will one day enable us to completely optimize a GMO. Instead of having to compromise on a GMO (i.e make it breakdown chemical A but as a result, it grows slower), we will be able to make bacteria do pretty much anything we want, without having to care about all those other genes, since it will only have the genes we want in it.
Don't worry about the end of the world or any of that malarky. At worst, this will probably result in some patent wrangling over genes and genomes. Any potential threat from this tech is decades away at best.
But I do have to say, this means that we are in the future! NASA and the US Air Force recently launched a robotic mini-space-shuttle, we've got people with artificial limbs that can move by using thought, we're developing bionic eyes (albeit pretty low resolution bionic eyes) and now we can chemically synthesize entire genomes! WE'RE IN THE FUTURE PEOPLE! WOOOOOOOO!
He has re-created life, but apart from conferring antibiotic resistance to this organism (which is not difficult to do, anyone with half a brain and the appropriate plasmid and a warm water bath can do that) he hasn't actually created anything - he has synthesized an already existing organism.
However, it is still an extremely impressive goal. He has proven that technology allows us to chemically create very large chromosomes and package them correctly. Then again, bacterial/fungal genomes are not as complicated as human genomes, what with the chromatin and the DNA packing using the histones and what not. So synthesizing complex eukaryotes is still waaaaay off into the future. But he's proven that he can synthesize bacteria and almost certainly viruses. In combination with one of Venter's other projects, which is to figure out the absolute minimum genome necessary for basic life, Venter's technology will one day enable us to completely optimize a GMO. Instead of having to compromise on a GMO (i.e make it breakdown chemical A but as a result, it grows slower), we will be able to make bacteria do pretty much anything we want, without having to care about all those other genes, since it will only have the genes we want in it.
Don't worry about the end of the world or any of that malarky. At worst, this will probably result in some patent wrangling over genes and genomes. Any potential threat from this tech is decades away at best.
But I do have to say, this means that we are in the future! NASA and the US Air Force recently launched a robotic mini-space-shuttle, we've got people with artificial limbs that can move by using thought, we're developing bionic eyes (albeit pretty low resolution bionic eyes) and now we can chemically synthesize entire genomes! WE'RE IN THE FUTURE PEOPLE! WOOOOOOOO!
Interesting. As with many developments, I'll keep an eye on this one. Many possibilities, including abuse.
If this would be an affair of the gods. Ignoring personal believes, there's nothing that points that way.SimuLord said: