Synthetic DNA About To Yield New Life Forms

mlimber sends along a Washington Post story about the immanence of completely artificial life: "The cobbling together of life from synthetic DNA, scientists and philosophers agree, will be a watershed event, blurring the line between biological and artificial — and forcing a rethinking of what it means for a thing to be alive... Some experts are worried that a few maverick companies are already gaining monopoly control over the core 'operating system' for artificial life and are poised to become the Microsofts of synthetic biology. That could stifle competition, they say, and place enormous power in a few people's hands."

Comments

Obgl.

[Anonymous Coward]

I for one, welcome our Artificial Overlords.

it's tyrell's fault

[User 956]

The cobbling together of life from synthetic DNA, scientists and philosophers agree, will be a watershed event, blurring the line between biological and artificial

Yeah, but this will only become a problem in the year 2019, and probably only in Los Angeles.

Re:it's tyrell's fault

[theonlyaether]

I thought the line between biological and artificial was already blurred in Los Angles O.o

Car of the future

[MillionthMonkey]

What kinds of organisms will scientists, terrorists and other creative individuals make?

[broken image]

Figure I. SCHEMATIC.
Modified design for a low-pH respiratory engine. 1) monobasic phosphate buffer tank. 2) ADP-GDP reservoir. 3) primary ADP-GDP feed line. 4) NAD/FAD reservoir. 5) pyruvate feed line. 6) Deinococcus culture chamber. 7) ADP-GDP return line. 8) NADH-FADH2 return line. 9) pasteurizer. 10) sodium-potassium pump. 11) NaCl/KCl reservoir. 12) actin filament membrane. 13) myosin-hydroxyapetite cylinder. 14) axle. 15) flywheel. 16) dilute H3PO4 reservoir. 17) intake port. 18) myosin generator. 19) proton pump. 20) ATPase membrane. 21) secondary ATP feed line. 22) electrophoresis cartridge. 23) pH regulator. 24) UV sterilizer. 25) transmission. 26) +12VDC battery. 27) radiator coil assembly. 28) CO2 exhaust vent. 29) fan. 30) phosphate return line. 31) brake assembly. 32) generator. 33) amylase generator. 34) glycolysis chamber. 35) fibrolytic culture chamber array. 36) microcontroller. 37) compost chamber. 38) thresher. 39) lid. Cit. L. Xu et al, Cellulosic Artificial Muscle Engines (2057), Biomech. Eng. Letts. 21 599-612

Re:Car of the future

[oblivionboy]

Wrong!!

Let me try.

Figure I. SCHEMATIC: #32 Hot Woman.

Pfftt...

[RuBLed]

And while some industry groups have talked about policing the field themselves, the technology is quickly becoming so simple, experts say, that it will not be long before "bio hackers" working in garages will be downloading genetic programs and making them into novel life forms.

SPORE hype...

DMCA

[Anonymous Coward]

Just be glad that God hasn't invoked the DMCA on reverse-engineering his DNA Code yet.

In other news..

[Anonymous Coward]

"...a few maverick companies are already gaining monopoly control over the core 'operating system' for artificial life ..."

Roman Catholic Church cites Genesis in Prior Art claim.....

Re:not jsut DNA

[MuLaNLaNg]

I've been to California and trust me, there's plenty of artificial TnA running around.

Re:theologian's typo?

[UbuntuDupe]

I don't think it effected understanding of the summary.

Re:Not completely artifical

[Lord Ender]

Let me paraphrase that so people with little time can still get the gist of your statement without having to read much.

testicles ... exposed ... protein ... ooze a delicious health drink from a special orifice so I can catch dinner on the way home. (Don't spit up your milk laughing, it's quite possible.)

flexibility.

Re:Not completely artifical

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it deserves to be noted that we are actually comparing Microsoft's software to testicles.

For the average slashdotter...

[Dareth]

... "the praying mantis routine" with a bug-woman-hybrid that looks like Natasha Henstridge may be a really good deal!