Scientists Build Possibly The First Man-Made Genome 264
hackingbear writes "Wired is reporting that researchers have created the longest synthetic genome to date by threading together four long strands of DNA. 'Leading synthetic biologists said with the new work, published Thursday in the journal Science, the first synthetic life could be just months away — if it hasn't been created already. [...] The ability to synthesize longer DNA strands for less money parallels the history of genetic sequencing, where the price of sequencing a human genome has dropped from hundreds of millions of dollars to about $10,000. Just a few years ago, synthesizing a piece of DNA with 5,000 rungs in its helix, known as base-pairs, was impossible. Venter's new synthetic genome is 582,000 base-pairs.' As a programmer, I'm most excited by the possibility of a new platform and the programming jobs that will be created by it."
Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig! (Score:3, Interesting)
It's about an hour long. It's both intriguing and a little scary at the same time. It gives a good example of just how far things have come and where they're potentially headed.
The benefits and cons are both obvious.
Re:whatcouldpossiblygowrong? (Score:3, Interesting)
You make a good point with the dangers that loom. You should read if you haven't "The Singularity Is Near" by Ray Kurzweil. It has some good ideas as to how to deal with this topic with nanotech and AI.
Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I used to be a paranoid... (Score:3, Interesting)