Scientists announced they are one step closer to synthetic Life, many media outlets have reported the news as a breakthrough but I also found one commentary from Wired that suggested it may be a technical achievement but “old news” in some sense. It is something interesting for sure.
Taking a significant step toward the creation of synthetic forms of life, researchers reported Thursday that they had manufactured the entire genome of a bacterium by stitching together its chemical components.
Wired commentary by Carl Zimmer,
So, ultimately, putting together a synthetic organism would simply confirm what scientists have known for a long time. The challenge to the project is not conceptual, but technical. And if you actually read the paper in which Venter’s team report the latest step in their project, it is supremely, fiendishly technical. They have a lot more tedium to survive before they create new life. And once they figure out how to build a viable genome and get it safely into a host cell, and if the two can cooperate nicely, what else would you expect but for life to emerge?
Many other media outlets have also reported on this announcement,
- Longest Piece of Synthetic DNA Yet - Scientific American
- Biologist claims significant step towards artificial life - UK The Guardian
- Researchers a step closer to synthetic life - USA Today
- Md. Scientists Build Bacterial Chromosome - Washington Post
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