J. Craig Venter speaking at the Genbank 25th Anniversary

[only2percent]

If the difference in genome with the chimps is in 3% range, than may be the genome is the wrong area to look for the differences?

May be the science should look not into the bricks, but into the Architecture, instead?

The Notre-Dame de Paris was also made of bricks, but what a difference in the assembly!

[dunnonuffink]

Kinda spooky to think Barry Schuler mentioned back in January 2009 that Venter's team had succeeded in synthesising cells (even using the two-blue-eyes slide), and somehow the world didn't "get" it: and here Venter describes it...and it still no-one seems to have picked up on its significance till late may 2010, when he basically took the media by the ears, spelled it out in baby-talk and gave them a good shake.

So much for investigative journalism. A free press is pretty useless if it's lazy.

[samgee2007]

We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse.These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm.

[samgee2007]

this will erase the human Race! playing god?

[DaithiDublin]

Well done on today's announcement. Truly amazing. I'm happy to be alive to see this day.