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The Los Alamos Bug

Posted by Zonk on from the not-interested-in-acting-as-a-carrier dept.

Kannappan writes "'You somehow have to forget everything you know about life', says Steen Rasmussen, a colleague of Norman Packard. Packard and his team are working on creating life artificially, nicknamed The Los Alamos bug (pdf). It will be created out of a molecule called Peptide Nucleic Acid(PNA), with a blend of three different factors crucial to life, viz. containment, heredity and metabolism. The researchers believe that the synthetic lives so created will have an enormous practical value in producing clean fuels, healing injured bodies and acting as tiny diagnosticians roaming our bodies."

7 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. PNA? by Punboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are there any other lifeforms based on PNA? Why aren't they using DNA?

    Do I just need to RTFA?

    --
    If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
    1. Re:PNA? by JumperCable · · Score: 4, Funny

      They want to lock in all future life into a proprietary format. With current DNA being patented our only hope left is to create our own truly open source life form.

      No word yet on which format Microsoft and Sony intend to back. In related news, Bush is working heavily with Monsanto to ensure that the DMCA is found to be applicable to current life forms. Scientists caught attempting to reverse engineer life should expect to be raided by the FBI by the end of year.

  2. Well. that's one way by inode_buddha · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well. that's one way to get a life.

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    C|N>K
  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. Re:Scientists need to stop playing God! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I completly agree. Does GWB even knows that this is happening in a federal lab, using federal taxpayer money?? I have a feeling that we'll soon have a taste of category 6 and higher hurricanes if we continue this way...

    I must pray over this.

  5. Not playing God... by clambake · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just to remind everyone, it's not playing God if you aren't creating life with pure will power alone...

    1. Re:Not playing God... by spongman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wonder if they'll take the day off when they're done.