Scientist Craig Venter Has Created Artificial Life

Daily Tech ^ | October 26, 2009 9:48 AM | Jason Mick (Blog)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Man can indeed create life, vitalism arguments laid to rest

Throughout the centuries vitalism remained the dominant philosophy.  Many reasoned that there was something inherently unique to life, impossible to recreate.  Modern science, however, has shown that the makeup of a living organism is nothing more than a complex mix of biochemicals.

Now a major scientific breakthrough has been made that may have profound impact on scientific research, and even how we view life itself.  John Craig Venter, founder of the The Institute for Genomic Research and the J. Craig Venter Institute, has, at last, achieved what he has been trying to do for over a decade -- create artificial life.

The most basic definition of being alive, when it comes to bacteria is being able to sustain the biological process to survive and reproduce.  Neither is possible without DNA, the genetic material of living organisms.

[Deb]

Lindsey Lohan?

[RichInOC]

Real life. Accept no substitutes.

[Reaganesque]

Naaah! Al Gore.

[mnehring]

I look forward to the paper to see how he did it and what he started with. I hope he doesn’t tinker around and create a gray goo scenario.

[mnehring]

Lindsey Lohan?

No, it appears this is a carbon based life form, Lohan has too much silicon.

[a fool in paradise]

And it votes Democrat.

[Mr. Lucky]

The headline is more than a little misleading. The guy “created” life by using existing living biological material.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

One of the comments makes the statement that this is NOT quite what the Title implies....

[allmendream]

And God called for the land and seas to bring forth life.

Does this necessitate that magical means must have been used, or did the land and sea bring forth life at God's command through the utilization of natural forces?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Right....see my comment at #9.

[mnehring]

You are right. It looks more like he rebuilt life than recreated it. It is still a big step, but another good point to not trust some reporter’s spin and get down to the guts of the article.

[mnehring]

+1

[pgkdan]

C,mon...he reassembled biological entities, he didn’t create anything. Call me when he can create ‘life’ by his will alone.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See #9.....thanks.

[Salgak]

According to the article, he assembled and/or modified existing living parts into a new cell, which then reproduced.

So it’s NOT synthetic life, it’s assembly. . .

[dfwgator]

A really smart guy figured out how to make a human being. He came to God and said, “Guess what Lord…I can make a human being just like you did!” As the scientist took some dirt and got ready to make a man out of it, God said: Oh no, you can’t use the dirt I made, you have to make your own dirt first!

[techcor]

Did he get to go “It's ALIVE!” when he succeeded? I would've.

[pgkdan]

LOL! Exactly!

[mnehring]

Yep, another sucky reporter making it sound more dramatic than it is. It is still a big step.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not sure what this is about...:

Does Craig Venter Have an Artificial Organism?

*********************************EXCERPT************************************

Wolfgang Hansson (Blog) - December 14, 2007 3:19 PM

Craig Venter and his team attacked over wide-ranging patent applications

One of the last frontiers with the potential to change the way people around the world live their daily lives is that of genetics. With different bits of DNA and genes scientists are moving towards being able to create artificial organisms in their labs to carry out different sorts of tasks.

The tasks these synthetic organisms may be designed to carry out could be as beneficial as producing medications or a new type of fuel to break us free of our reliance on petroleum to nefarious uses like cobbling together synthetic viruses and pathogens into the sort of super-virus Stephen King envision in his book, The Stand.

One scientist, Craig Venter, says he and his team are on the verge of creating an artificial organism, and some rumors say that his team has actually created the organism and is merely waiting for a scientific paper to be published to reveal their work.

Venter says the artificial organism would be simple, consisting of only a few hundred genes, yet he goes on to tell Business Week, “it will be one of the bright milestones in human history, changing our conceptual view of life.”

Venter also stands to make fantastical sums of money with patents that he and his company have filed that are generating lots of controversy. Venter imagines creating organisms covered by these patents worth billions or trillions of dollars.

The ETC Group, a watchdog organization in Canada, attacked Venter for his wide-ranging patent applications accusing him of trying to create a “Microbesoft” monopoly of synthetic biology. However, many feel that if Venter’s research can break us free of our reliance on polluting petroleum fuels the risk is worth the gain.

However, even ETC feels that Venter's discovery will be more important than the discoveries of scientists who have cloned animals, like the Korean team who cloned a dog in December of 2006.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I wonder if it was the Reporter....?

Venter can make some BIG MONEY if he can get attention....

[mnehring]

Nothing wrong with marketing.. Still, a reporter is involved and should have dug into this before publishing. Even if Venter wanted to say he created life from scratch, the reporter’s job is to fact check his story.

[MEGoody]

Um, maybe I’m missing something, but it appears this scientist didn’t create artificial life. He cloned. Rather a different thing.

[so_real]

Sounds more like gene therapy than "creation" to me. I think the title on the article is intentionally misleading and dramatic.

[eclecticEel]

[RichInOC]

“He must haf an enormous Schwanzstucker.”

[MortMan]

“He’ll be very popular with the ladies!” /Eyegor

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Wrong. Sorry bud but you did not create life. You started with LIVING things and modified them.
Too bad. No nobel prize for you. Keep trying. Maybe you’ll get it next time.

[MHGinTN]

Hence my paradigm that there is a dimension we might call ‘Life Force’ from which the dimensional quality appears in our spacetime continuum. The molecules are not alive, but they may be the resonance points which allow the dimension of Life Force to express in our spacetime continuum.

[GeronL]

I wouldn’t know.

Maybe he grow and sell sea monkeys?

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

I have to feel sorry for scientists. Long hours. Low pay. No recognition. Thankless work. Dreaming of becoming famous - another Pasteur! another Einstein! That sort of thing can lead them to cry eureka when there’s nothing to eureka about.

[HeadOn]

Wanna act like God? Climb to Heaven? Create life? Prepare to be scattered!

Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
...
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

[IronKros]

[Marine_Uncle]

Nothing new hear. I have waded through books over the years as how someone claims this or that through the eyes of most often some imbecile that supposedly is a reporter.
Let the person come up with a proven technique to literally create a fully functional cell that can reproduce and exhibit the many unique chemical process to feed, metabolize, maintain the dozens of required functions for maintenance, and reproduction then I may bite.
It's the old thing..... not much more original then putting some methane in a reaction vessel, pumping some high frequency voltage sparks or other times using UV to then under carefully controlled lab experiments, show some group of Amino Acids where assembled. Then as long as temperatures ,pressures etc., where properly maintained, extract them and make a qualitative measurement on what was assembled.
There where those that claimed scientist created life in a test tube. No one has shown how one can create living things as we know them.