http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/20/craig-venter-synthetic-life-form Even after reading several articles about this I'm still not really sure what exactly he's done but they all seem to think it's a defining moment in biology and philosophy so it seems to be a pretty big deal.
I saw the thread title and thought it was Sounder fans talking about their superior field turf again, because it is so hard to grow grass in the Northwest.
Over/under on amount of time it takes these guys to develop a horny, deaf-mute supermodel? I say 3 yrs.
Yeah. All you need a woman to be is very, very understanding. And pretty and such of course, but that's a no-brainer.
For what it's worth. I personally don't think organic lifeforms should be patentable. But there you have it.
One of the implications is that they might be able to create organisms that generate energy and make it scalable. Or they might be able to create organisms that feed on oil and send them into the Gulf to consume the next spill.
I assume the government recommends duct tape and plastic wrap to protect ourselves for the zombie apocalypse? I hate the idea of being able to patent anything remotely described as "life". Life-for-profit is not something I want to see. We've all seen Stargate SG-1 or some other Sci-Fi show where you think you're creating life to eat an oil slick or be a toy for your advanced robot child, but next thing you know, its desire to reproduce and take over the universe is too strong to stop. By then, of course, the patent-holders are nowhere to be found
I heard a bit about it on NPR this morning, and NPR remarked that so far the scientists involved with this have not done a good job of explaining to the public what it is exactly that they are doing, and why the public should support it. therefore it's up to the media and the headline writers to define it, and they often misrepresent the whole thing.
I thought they did that a long time ago. I know I'm officially old because things like this make me very nervous. Isn't there a company that patented part of the human genome? I'm going to have to look that up - I heard something about it a couple of years ago and it made me so mad I went into immediate denial.
if you've spent any time in Florida, then you know all about the plague of the "love bugs" - which were originally introduced to deal with mosquitoes, but they just basically have sex all day and fly around like zombies everywhere. they do a lot of damage to cars' paint jobs.
You'll love this... There is and it's the same guy that did this artificial life thing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Venter
Sweet Mutants on a Stick, you guys are pansies. It's not like our cowboy robots and clown-assassin replicants wouldn't be able to handle any rogue genetic aberrations. Sheesh.
I remember killing as many of them as possible before I left. I still think they had something to do with my timing belt failing. As for the actual story, I think it could be cool. Seriously, it is difficult to explain this shit. My wife does some detailed biology shit, and they only reason I think she is fairly good at explaining what she does is because she has to talk to my dumb ass every day. And even then, I get the science behind most of what she is saying (the actual terminology is a different story).
because he has competition? Because he didn't do it in the first place? Because it didn't take him 10 years and 40 million dollars? Why exactly should God put it in his pipe? Because it only took men a few million years to catch up (or 8-10K?)