scientists create living cell

[John Adams]

Pretty big "Holy ****" moment in science. Not quite at the point of creating life from entirely non-living materials but 1 microstep from it.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...d=djemalertNEWS

 

Heralding a new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions, which can survive and reproduce itself, researchers at the private J. Craig Venter Institute announced Thursday.

 

"We call it the first synthetic cell," said genomics pioneer Craig Venter, who oversaw the project. "These are very much real cells."

[erynthered]

[erynthered]

or if you prefer the original...........

 

 

 

[Magox]

Pretty big "Holy ****" moment in science. Not quite at the point of creating life from entirely non-living materials but 1 microstep from it.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...d=djemalertNEWS

You're right, Holy ****!!

 

I wonder if we could some way quantify if these synthetic life-forms have souls, and if they don't, then there would never be a need for the military draft ever again and our DOD budget would go down dramatically.

[Booster4324]

You're right, Holy ****!!

 

I wonder if we could some way quantify if these synthetic life-forms have souls, and if they don't, then there would never be a need for the military draft ever again and our DOD budget would go down dramatically.

 

Yeah, that will end badly. I take it you don't watch a lot of science fiction.

[Gene Frenkle]

You're right, Holy ****!!

 

I wonder if we could some way quantify if these synthetic life-forms have souls, and if they don't, then there would never be a need for the military draft ever again and our DOD budget would go down dramatically.

I wonder if we could some way quantify if any life-forms have souls.

[Magox]

I wonder if we could some way quantify if any life-forms have souls.

I was joking...

[Steely Dan]

Das very cool!! Here's an article from 2007 that talks about trying to do what they just did. Link

 

The J Craig Venter Institute scientists are aiming to craft a "minimal genome"- the smallest group of genes an organism needs to survive and function - and insert it into an empty cell.

 

This stripped-down genome has been established with the help of a simple bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium, by knocking out its genes, one by one, until only the genetic material vital for survival was found.

 

Craig Venter

Dr Venter could be on the cusp of creating life

The plan is to re-synthesise these DNA sequences from simple chemicals, stitch them together and create an artificial organism. Some believe the team may be on the cusp of doing just that.

 

I love this, unintentionally, funny part of the article;

 

The top-down and bottom-up teams have something in common: they are mimicking what nature does already. Some scientists, though, have gone back to the drawing broad in their quest to produce synthetic life.

 

I wonder who the drawing broad is?

[Gene Frenkle]

I was joking...

Couldn't resist.

[DC Tom]

And Obama's already given it money, Tiger Woods has already !@#$ed it, and I've already called it an idiot.

[Magox]

And Obama's already given it money, Tiger Woods has already !@#$ed it, and I've already called it an idiot.

[Booster4324]

I, for one, welcome our new synthetic overlords.

[Steely Dan]

This isn't the same thing but it's closely associated it seems;

 

Linky

 

Stanford Researchers Create Germ Cells in the Lab

November 05, 2009 05:30 PM (Click for citation)

 

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/scienc...in-the-Lab.html

 

by Colleen Brondou

 

Germ cells, the cells that compose eggs and sperm, could provide insight into the earliest stages of human development, and maybe even prevent infertility, birth defects and genetic diseases.

 

Embryonic Stem Cells “Grow Up” Into Germ Cells

Building on previous research, scientists at Stanford University were able to make embryonic stem cells mature into reproductive germ cells, the cells responsible for forming sperm and eggs.

 

Embryonic stem cells are the building blocks of life and can be manipulated into a variety of tissues types. Perhaps most remarkably, the Stanford researchers were able to coax these embryonic stem cells to “go all the way through the reductional process of meiosis so the cells contain just one copy of a chromosome, a critical step in sexual reproduction,” Lisa M. Krieger writes for the San Jose Mercury News.

 

Making a baby from these cells isn’t the point of the research; instead, the Stanford team plans to study the earliest stages of human development in order to examine infertility, genetic disease and birth defects.

 

“Human development is a very complex process, and we’ve never had a system before to study it in the lab, to see the things we can see now,” Renee Reijo Pera, the lead investigator who directs Stanford’s Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education Center, told the Mercury News.

 

__________________________________

 

Background: “Synthetic sex cells”

 

In 2003, Carina Dennis reported in the journal Nature that “ome pioneering biologists are trying to grow eggs and sperm in the lab,” and in the process “they’re entering a technical and ethical minefield.” Aside from dealing with the ethical issues, Dennis pointed out that researchers also face “formidable technical challenges.”

 

“One major hurdle is coaxing the cells to halve their number of chromosomes, which involves a form of cell division known as meiosis,” Dennis wrote. The Stanford researchers have done just that, bringing us one step closer to what Dennis calls “ynthetic sex cells.”

 

I guess it depends on they use this discovery.

[Chef Jim]

Great, just what we need, another way of overpopulating this earth.

[Magox]

Great, just what we need, another way of overpopulating this earth.

Think of it this way, there would be less incentive for the Mexicans to invade your state.

[Steely Dan]

Main Entry: exo·bi·ol·o·gy

Pronunciation: \ˌek-sō-bī-ˈä-lə-jē\

Function: noun

Date: 1960

 

: a branch of biology concerned with the search for life outside the earth and with the effects of extraterrestrial environments on living organisms

 

— exo·bi·o·log·i·cal \-ˌbī-ə-ˈlä-ji-kəl\ adjective

 

— exo·bi·ol·o·gist \-bī-ˈä-lə-jist\ noun

 

Here's a primer on exobiology. Link

 

Miller took molecules which were believed to represent the major components of the early Earth's atmosphere and put them into a closed system

 

The gases they used were methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2), and water (H2O). Next, he ran a continuous electric current through the system, to simulate lightning storms believed to be common on the early earth. Analysis of the experiment was done by chromotography. At the end of one week, Miller observed that as much as 10-15% of the carbon was now in the form of organic compounds. Two percent of the carbon had formed some of the amino acids which are used to make proteins. Perhaps most importantly, Miller's experiment showed that organic compounds such as amino acids, which are essential to cellular life, could be made easily under the conditions that scientists believed to be present on the early earth. This enormous finding inspired a multitude of further experiments.

[Adam]

You're right, Holy ****!!

 

I wonder if we could some way quantify if these synthetic life-forms have souls, and if they don't, then there would never be a need for the military draft ever again and our DOD budget would go down dramatically.

If they have souls, keep them away from Buffy.....that always goes badly

[KD in CA]

I wonder if we could some way quantify if these synthetic life-forms have souls, and if they don't, then there would never be a need for the military draft ever again and our DOD budget would go down dramatically.

 

Begun, the Clone Wars have....

[BillsFanNC]

Craig Venter's group, former professor of biochemistry at UB.

[Clip Smith]

Craig Venter's group, former professor of biochemistry at UB.

 

The lead scientist is a Buffalo boy and probable lurker of these boards.