Genetic Engineering


Biologists Enlist Online Gamers -- Katherine Bourzac  -- Technology Review  -- May 8, 2008
Metacomputing

Players of a new online game called Foldit will help design three-dimensional protein structures for HIV vaccines, and enzymes for repairing DNA in diseased tissues.

David Baker, a leading protein scientist at the University of Washington, teamed up with computer scientists to create the game.

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Making the World A Billion Times Better -- Ray Kurzweil  -- Washington Post  -- April 13, 2008
Energy

Kurzweil predicts our computing power is likely to make a 'billion-fold' increase in power over the next 25 years which will "unlock a solution to global warming, unmask the secret to longer life and solve myriad other worldly conundrums."

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Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel -- Staff  -- Agence France Presse  -- February 28, 2008
Genetic Engineering

A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.

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Pursuing Synthetic Life, Dazzled by Reality -- Natalie Angier  -- New York Times  -- February 5, 2008
Genetic Engineering

Scientists who seek to imitate living cells say they can't help but be perpetually dazzled by the genuine articles, their flexibility, their versatility, their childlike grandiosity. No matter what outrageous or fattening things we may ask our synthetic cells to do, scientists say, it's nothing compared with what cells already have done of their own accord, usually in the format of bacteria.

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I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer -- Ed Pilkington  -- Guardian  -- October 6, 2007
Genetic Engineering

Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

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Will Synthetic Biology Catch Government By Surprise? -- Brandon Keim  -- Wired News  -- July 5, 2007
Genetic Engineering

Synthetic biology -- the emerging science of creating genomes, cellular components and even whole cellular organisms from scratch -- confronts regulators with some tricky problems.

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How to Confine the Plants of the Future? -- Denise Caruso  -- New York Times  -- April 8, 2007
Genetic Engineering

A new generation of genetically engineered crops that produce drugs and chemicals is fast approaching the market -- bringing with it a new wave of concerns about the safety of the global food and feed supply. The containment practices used by developers assume an ability to control living and propagating organisms, which scientific evidence does not support.

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Biology Goes Open Source -- Matthew Herper and Robert Langreth  -- Forbes  -- February 12, 2007
Genetic Engineering

Some of the world's biggest drug companies are finding that their genetic research is worth more to them if they give it away.

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'Doomsday' vault design unveiled -- Mark Kinver  -- BBC News  -- February 9, 2007
Genetic Engineering

The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government. The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.

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Algae-Based Fuels Set to Bloom -- Kevin Bullis  -- Technology Review  -- February 5, 2007
Energy

New genomic and proteomic technologies make it much easier to understand the mechanisms involved in converting algae into a renewable energy source.

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