Biologists on the Verge of Creating New Form of Life!

Biologists on the Verge of Creating New Form of Life!

blog.wired.com

"A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life. A lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building simple cell models that can almost be called life. Szostak's protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions..."

(visit the link for the full news article)

.... "they could form a self-replicating, evolving system that satisfies the conditions of life, but isn't anything like life on earth now, but might represent life as it began or could exist elsewhere in the universe.
While his latest work remains unpublished, Szostak described preliminary new success in getting protocells with genetic information inside them to replicate at the XV International Conference on the Origin of Life in Florence, Italy, last week. The replication isn't wholly autonomous, so it's not quite artificial life yet, but it is as close as anyone has ever come to turning chemicals into biological organisms."

So... this opens windows. Reanimation? CREATING life forms? It seems to me this could be the start to a lot of very beneficial experiments. Think of the possibilities...
You have to read the whole article to fully appreciate what this man has done.

blog.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

P.S. Thanks to the mod for help with the quotes. Im not great at that kinda thing.

Mod edit: Help with quotes tag.

[edit on 12/9/2008 by Badge01]

[edit on 9/12/2008 by ZyPHeR]

Very interesting, as long as kept in control.

As for life on other planets, I suspect but of course have no idea, that is a form of life we can't even begin to imagine.

Cool. This, if it works, will shut up a lot of anti evolutionists (who forget that evolution has nothing to do with the beginning of life).

Synthetic life. What a great inspiration source for fiction.

Originally posted by ZyPHeR

Biologists on the Verge of Creating New Form of Life!

blog.wired.com

"A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life. A lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building simple cell models that can almost be called life. Szostak's protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions..."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Want to hear something scary for me? I have said for YEARS that while man has the ABILITY to create life, God will not allow him to do so. So, unless I am mistaken, this is another sign that the end is near.

But then again, everyone claimed Miller was so close to "creating life" when he did his experiment, so who knows?

God would not stop people from making life, for goodness sake. It's not in God's interest to meddle with man's pursuit of understanding in science.

Not to get into religion, but.....God gave us brains to use and with these brains come curiosity and the want to discover and experiment. I believe our capacity for this learning is infinite.

Originally posted by Good Wolf
Cool. This, if it works, will shut up a lot of anti evolutionists (who forget that evolution has nothing to do with the beginning of life).

Synthetic life. What a great inspiration source for fiction.

I see it as a suggestion of intelligent design.

You see something of this complexity required a designer or a creator. Whoops there goes evolutionary theory. Maybe this proves that intelligent design is correct after all? That will show those Darwinists who's boss. By the way evolutionary theory usually does presuppose a random chance creation of life. They go at all costs to deny a creator.

Also natural selection does not imply evolution. But you probably knew that.

Originally posted by SevenThunders
I see it as a suggestion of intelligent design.

You see something of this complexity required a designer or a creator. Whoops there goes evolutionary theory. Maybe this proves that intelligent design is correct after all? That will show those Darwinists who's boss. By the way evolutionary theory usually does presuppose a random chance creation of life. They go at all costs to deny a creator.

No, evolution has never supposed a creator or a beginning to life! You have now idea what you're talking about.

Abiogenesis is life from non-life.

And I don't see how replicating the conditions that originally spawned life as ID. Chemistry, left to it's own devices, can do this.