Craig Venter: On the verge of creating synthetic life

http://www.ted.com "Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" asks Craig Venter. And his answer is, yes, and pretty soon. He walks the TED2008 audience through his latest research into "fourth-generation fuels" -- biologically created fuels with CO2 as their feedstock. His talk covers the details of creating brand-new chromosomes using digital technology, the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life. A fascinating Q&A with TED's Chris Anderson follows (two words: suicide genes).

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[LesPaul2006]

@ParadigmShift22 He will save more lives than your puny prayers to the winds. In fact, your prayers will save nothing.

[whosthisguythinkheis]

@EuropeanGuy87 I find it quite odd how everyone who complains about nature taking its own course fail to realize that nature is not something pretty, there's no such thing like Gaia watching over the way the world is running.

Just bear in mind we'd be naked, cold and mostly dead if it was not for medical and technological advancements. Ironic how its because of the comforts you gain from this that you actually have time to think about such advancements and draw up a mild disapproval of them.

[THX1146]

I had the monster making kit as a kid.This is different by alot.For one thing the monsters that can be made with this stuff won't be fun.It might be used for good but the odds say no.Most likely the military will make gray goo and keep it in a jar just in case.It will sit there like nuclear weapons creating stress we don't need.

[Quocorya]

DIGIMON

[Matrix29bear]

I remember this movie at 9:39 . It was called John Carpenters "The Thing" (1982).

You can clap now. The applause of the dying.

[VibrationsfromMirror]

@binbashLinuxAhole A modified Cell from VIRUSES. It eats Metals, it eats Flesh. Watch it mutating.. oh wait you can't anymore, they pulled the live feed 7 days ago! See "what is this in the Gulf of mexico" video for a good look.

[binbashLinuxAhole]

@RespectMyHate 4.54 billion years. And Earth is very young.

wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Timelin­e_of_evolution Perhaps it's time to review your 3rd grade science.