Synthetic Biology

Here's a new term for you: synthetic biology.  It's one  you'll likely hear more often in the future, especially given a recent accomplishment from the Scripps Research Institute out of California.  More on that in a moment.

I don't want this to be a blog that just reposts links, but with one exception. If you're trying to understand the weirdness of the material world, it's good to keep an eye on the vanguard. The first rule of dealing with change is to try not to be blindsided by it, at least whenever possible. 

You've likely heard yesterday's news that scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California have created the first sythetic DNA. This will, I'm sure, give some nightmares of microscopic Frankensteins maiming the life familliar.  Certainly any new technology brings with it ethical and safety concerns.  Somewhere in our anthropocene past was a faction who likely objected to using fire because of it's ability to harm life and rage out of control.  Did that stop it's adoption?

The most obvious use for this technology is creating pharmacueticals.  What are the unbvious uses? I wish I knew.  When microprocessors were invited, likely no one predicted personal computers, cell phones, ipads, ecommerce, google, facebook, twitter.

For a repost, this has already rambled on longer than I intended.  My goal was to find an article that I thought did a good job of covering the essentials. Providing that would save you the trouble of finding a good one.  My favorite so far is the one at Popular Mechanics.  Also, here's the list returned by Google.