Ben Preiss
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 Artifical Life Form To Follow? Craig Venter, known for his controversial leadership in deciphering the human genetic code, has constructed a synthetic chromosome which is the basic code needed in order to create life. Speculation is building that he is about announce the creation of the first artificial life form on earth. The hope is that custom life forms may one day be used to digest formerly indigestible things such as cellulose, and turn them into fuel in order solve the energy crisis, or to digest green house gas to ease global warming.  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".
(guardian)References: news.yahoo, guardian 1 Comment: on Scientist Creates Synthetic Chromosome |
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