Scientists create synthetic DNA in lab, and use it to control cell

[ThomWV]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10132762.stm

In short what they have done is created life. This ought to get the Christian Right up in arms pretty quick.

From the link:
"Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.

The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.

The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.

The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms.

The researchers hope eventually to design bacterial cells that will produce medicines and fuels and even absorb greenhouse gases."

[FLPanhandle]

1. This is so cool

Religious fundamentalists will have a cow.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[scubadude]

3. My wife used to make DNA to order ten years ago.

It was inserted into existing organism's DNA in order to create organisms with traits to order.

What the scientists have now done is a bit different. They have duplicated the bacteria's entire DNA. Then they added a few additional genetic markers so they could track how the organism divides. They inserted this into a bacterium shell that had been stripped of it's own DNA. And it began to divide on it's own.

Very cool and scary in a way, and a huge advance.

Scuba

[FarCenter]

4. I thought that the Christian life approves since it proves life can be created by intelligent design

[ThomWV]

5. True that, but they also believe we ain't smart enough to do it. It requires cosmic intelligence

[FLPanhandle]

6. Yep, their god is a little less special now.

and a little smaller.

[FarCenter]

7. It's been obvious for a while that "life" is just a matter of getting the biochemistry right

[ThomWV]

9. Obvious to those who give science any thought, but many don't and to them this is blasphemy

[Odin2005]

8. Sweet! I love this stuff!

:)