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.
And these folks have demonstrated just what? That it requires intelligence to create life? Certainly more intelligence than I have, and these folks are [i]starting[/i] with a pre-existent, membrane-bound, self-replicating cell.
When they can build spherical phospho-lipid membranes from scratch, fill them with cytoplasm and then program them I’ll be more impressed, since they will have demonstrated that it requires a [i]LOT[/i] of intelligence to create even a little bit of life when you already know the pattern you’re supposed to follow.
Sadly, science has ignored the ethical and moral questions of it actions. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
But some scientists do because they can no matter what they long range consequences may be.
Quite sad.