Scientists have created the world's first synthetic life form

I have questions.

Questions 1: "What is the purpose of this experiment?"

Question 2: "So we're destroying natural living things (fetus) and desiring to create artificial life?"

I'm a biochemist, but I'm not celebrating. Mapping the genome makes sense for gene therapy, but this doesn't to me yet.

post by Firefly_


what if the government and the elite make synthetic aliens and have ufo's already made. All ive been hearing about is ufo's and aliens lately. The media could easily manipulate simple minded people to belive there are being killed and blown up by ufo's in some tragic event, which could be a case of depopulation funded by the familys that basically own everything.

Why do religious people bother coming onto a science thread. You believe in magic for Christ's sake ??

Scientist do not believe in magic tricks, they believe everything is explainable and can be replicated. We know a magic trick only appears to be magic, it is an illusion brought about by our senses being fooled and lack of knowledge. Of course their are some in the audience that does not want to know how the trick is done, they want to "believe" in the magic. Because mystery is exiting. Knowing kinda takes the fun out of the trick.

Just like deconstruction the reconstructing life will take some of the mystery out of it.

This first step is just like an architect drawing up plans for an already existing building. Then building a replica. True they did not do the original design. But soon they will be drawing up their own plans and you will have a new never seen before design. Something creationist say is impossible.

Every day we do things that closed minded people say "couldn't be done". And when it is they change it to "shouldn't be done".

If you want to believe in magic, then that is fine. But at least have the guts to admit it out loud. " I believe in magic" and stop trying to engage people who don't.

reply to post by thedeadtruth


It should then also be said, that science is just now beginning to understand things that religion, namely Buddhism, has known for millenniums. So you tell me which is a quicker path to the end of suffering and which will inevitably create more suffering?

reply to post by thedeadtruth


I'm bored so here you go: a quote another member posted:

Something akin to that fabulous Karl Sagan quote :

" If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch , you must first invent the universe "

If you can create it, it already exists, so it is not something new.

Think of a computer game, just because you have the ability to create a unique character doesn't mean much because the ability is given to you by the creator of the game.

Sorry:I'm just bored, ATS is getting boring.

They created artificial life from a synthetic cell. Ok, cool, but how is this any different than beauticians creating artificial hair extension weaves from synthetic (or even human) hair? They didn't create life strictly from amino acids, so even though it's still disturbing to see a true "mad scientist," it may not be a cause for concern.

I'm not thrilled about this. What happens if these organisms get out into nature and start reproducing there and maybe affecting other organisms and ecosystems? I can very easily envision a nightmare scenario.

Originally posted by TheComte
I'm not thrilled about this. What happens if these organisms get out into nature and start reproducing there and maybe affecting other organisms and ecosystems? I can very easily envision a nightmare scenario.

I don't see any animals creating worse nightmare than us.

Visit Afghanistan, that is a nightmare.

Visit Gaza, that is a nightmare.

Visit Somalia, visit Nigeria, Visit Myanmar, Visit the American Ghettos, Visit SouthAfrica.

Or just watch the movie: "Once we were warriors".

Here is a link for it, you can watch it for free:
www.megavideo.com...

reply to post by LittleSecret


You are bored.

Afghanistan will repair itself just fine if they ever get the chance.

These guys are talking about making a new life form and releasing it into nature (re: cleaning up oil spills with an oil eating organism). If it turns out to be a disaster, it will never be repaired.

[edit on 21-5-2010 by TheComte]

Originally posted by TheComte
reply to post by LittleSecret

 

You are bored.

Afghanistan will repair itself just fine if they ever get the chance.

These guys are talking about making a new life form and releasing it into nature (re: cleaning up oil spills with an oil eating organism). If it turns out to be a disaster, it will never be repaired.

[edit on 21-5-2010 by TheComte]

Yes I'm bored, and that is why I'm gonna tell you that every problem has a solution.

And I'm also gonna tell you that change brings problem, the scope which you are speaking through wouldn't allow us to change at all because of the fear in regards to problems arising.

If I change from Christian to Muslim, problems will come up, and the opposite is true also.

The thing is, every problem encourages us to find solutions, and those solutions will be advancement.

Once we have oil eating organism which are the problem, we can create something bigger which feasts upon those organisms.

This is a never ending cycle, we will keep inventing, we will keep surviving..






Edit to say:

Are you watching the movie? If you are sensitive, don't. It is not sick or anything, just realistically violent.


[edit on 21-5-2010 by LittleSecret]

Does this sound like a story out of Frankinstien...

Hmmmm,I think we have gone to far.Maybe the Amish have it right,because this WORLD HAS GONE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Read and try to comprehend the article.

The bateria's DNA was removed, replicated, the the replicated DNA was inserted.

NOT SYNTHETIC LIFE.

This is simply a campaign for a wealthy genetcsit to gain more PR.

If this guy could replicate cell membranes, then I'd be showering congrats.

But thats not what he did.

What he did is what Monsanto couldn't do because Monsanto inserts DNA into cells by "shooting" bits of DNA into cells and picks those that integrate the foreign DNA into cell's DNA.

So, this guy can take "natural" DNA and probably excise certain genes and splice other genes into a genome and declare it a "Monsanto SYNTHETIC LIFEFORM" and get a patent.

Disgusting.

reply to post by fever


I was going to say this but thank you.

It's sad to see morons so against great things for ignorant reasons...

reply to post by malcr


... how does this disprove God? Seriously? That's like saying the faucet disproves the tide of the ocean...

When/if you have kids did that disprove your parents?

Dont be so obtuse. remember - you're supposed to be the "enlightened" one here... not us pleebs who believe in spooky supernatural beings.

reply to post by thedeadtruth


Quite the contrary my friend. Scientists do believe in magic tricks. Gravity is pretty freaking magic. Just because we can measure it and predict it doesn't make it any less magic... I mean seriously ... what is this stuff?

Where does a universal force that compels objects of mass to gravitate (pun intended) towards eachother? And why do things with more mass get more of it? It's kind of like describing the taste of water - you know it's there, know what it is, but can't explain it at all.

If we believe that humans have the capacity for more than we currently display (brain function), and that the stuff we're doing today would have been considered magic 1000 years ago... why do Christians believe in magic?

What if instead God is just on a different plane of existence and that when you die and go to "heaven" you're actually joining him on that plane? Hmmm... what if our bodies are made of organic matter but our souls are made of dynamic energy that can be transferred/transformed upon death?

Wait a minute... that sounds like some kind of sci-fi stuff...

Who has got official marketing rights> I would like to place and order please. 5'10" green eyed Brunete. Wide hips, B bust. IQ 138. Um.. no Make 2 that please. To go.

I think Craig Venter's claim that he and his team have created "the world's first synthetic life form" is a wild overstatement and really nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Their new technique doesn't do anything that couldn't already be done, except speed up the rate at which it can be done.
Creating non-naturally occurring DNA sequences has been going on for decades, but until now it has involved a laborious process of chopping up existing DNA and gluing it back together into the desired sequences.
The new technique simply builds the desired sequence systematically one nucleotide at a time.

Even the simplest known life forms are mind-bogglingly complex at the molecular level, and nobody has even remotely approached synthesizing one. In fact there is no way to synthesize even a relatively small protein (like hemoglobin) without using the molecular machinery that pre-exists in living organisms.

It's not the creation of a synthetic life form here but simply a new genetic engineering technique.

well we finally created a living molecuul whooptiedoo about time dont u think after 40 mil yeah wright make that 400 billion or more.
Stil god created us and were a little more complex wouldnt u say .
maybe in 400 billion years we will be on the same level and then the circle is round if u get my drift

reply to post by Quickfix


My thoughts exactly. If in the wrong hand's I bet this can be used to make a "slave race" that doesn't complain and does what it's told. Stripped of emotions and one owns self awareness = Zombie....

Originally posted by SneakAPeek
reply to post by Quickfix

 

My thoughts exactly. If in the wrong hand's I bet this can be used to make a "slave race" that doesn't complain and does what it's told. Stripped of emotions and one owns self awareness = Zombie....

lol maybe thats exactly what we are, we just have no way of knowing