Creating man-made life in the lab is possible within the decade, according to this article. There are some obstacles to overcome, but scientists around the world aren’t letting those problems stop them. A biological chemist here in Florida is daring to poke around the genetic alphabet, so to speak.
In Gainesville, Fla., Steve Benner, a biological chemist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution is attacking that problem by going outside of natural genetics. Normal DNA consists of four bases — adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (known as A,C,G,T) — molecules that spell out the genetic code in pairs. Benner is trying to add eight new bases to the genetic alphabet.
Could science fiction become reality, with man-made lifeforms taking over the Earth?
Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could “run amok,†but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem.
“When these things are created, they’re going to be so weak, it’ll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab,” he said. “But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen.”
Sounds like famous last words to me …
