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Interview with J. Craig Venter

Posted by michael on from the dna-for-dummies dept.

ebusinessmedia1 writes "An fascinating article that has Venter reflecting on the work yet to be done in genomics, and his strong sense that biology will drive developments in computing in the near future."

3 of 17 comments (clear)

  1. Mod Parent Up by pgaffney · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Here's my question for him. Are we any closer to being able to create viruses able to destroy an entire race, but not affect other races? I know a few races I'd like to be rid of.


    Given that morons like the above clearly exist, do we indeed want to press ahead with this technology right now? Last I checked, all the peoples of the world weren't getting along too great, and the above troll is a good example of why we wouldn't want this to be TOO common / cheap. If we as a community are opposed to secrecy of science we might be better off just waiting a bit on this stuff, at least until some change in humanity (mebbe we all live in space stations scattered around and thus are difficult to disease into non-existance) makes the threat less deadly.

  2. Genomics, yes, but what about Somatics? by leonbrooks · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Given that the vast majority of the material inherited from one's mother is not DNA, not genes, and that this cellular material (cytosomes, organelles, replication molecules etc) regulates the DNA, surely we need to start finding out more about this other stuff about now?

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
    1. Re:Genomics, yes, but what about Somatics? by sd211 · · Score: 4, Informative

      To be exact, exactly half of genomic DNA comes from each parent. Extra-chromasomal DNA (e.g. mitochondrial DNA) is contributed by mother. Machinery which is required for DNA replication does not really matter; half-life of proteins is relatively short, and new proteins that make up the machinery will be made from the genomic DNA. Although the is some extra-chromasomal DNA which comes from maternal side, it's effects are small compared to the effects of the genomic DNA.