They are the stuff of horror and science fiction stories. They are the fodder for much political debate and public fear. Yet they may be our future and our salvation.
What are they? They are artificially created biological organisms. Authors George Church and Ed Regis, in their new book, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Recreate Nature and Ourselves, tell us they are coming, and they tell us not to be afraid. Wary, perhaps, but not afraid.
Church is a molecular geneticist, who created many of the tools we use for genetic sequencing. He is also the founder of the Personal Genome Project, which looks to sequence the genomes of 100,000 volunteers and place the data in the public domain to facilitate research into the interplay of genetics and environment in determining how we become who we are. This Sunday, he will talk to us about what we may expect from this future in which we have this kind of information and this kind of power.
Related Links:
- Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Recreate Nature and Ourselves at Amazon
- Personal Genome Project
- “On a Mission to Sequence the Genomes of 100,000 People“, profile in the New York Times
- George Church on The Colbert Report
Listen to AM 950 KTNF this Sunday at 9 a.m. Central to hear Atheists Talk, produced by Minnesota Atheists. Stream live online. Call in to the studio at 952-946-6205, or send an e-mail to [email protected] during the live show. If you miss the live show, listen to the podcast later.
It looks like http://www.am950radio.com/am950-podcasts is the current ‘Listen’ link for AM 950.
Thanks for highlighting this, it’s certainly an interesting topic 🙂 I’ll not be listening until later, and I’ve only had 3.5hrs sleep, so in-depth rambling from me would have to wait for another day – hope to spam you then 😉
Kind regards,
– Matthew
Alas, I thought this was going to be about the excellent sequel to Hugo winner Cyteen. But this just as interesting, I’ll be using the live stream, thanks!