Beware of biology!

Update: Watch the TED talk about the same.

If you are following the news lately, you must have noticed the much publicized creation of synthetic dna (alternate Times link).

Another important news which didn't get much attention is the invention of yet another technique to transfer dna in to cell (this article concludes with a phrase that is ironically funny: "the equipment needed is simple, inexpensive, and portable." ).

These developments when seen together makes creating bio-forms that can be programmed at genetic level possible (yes, i am desperately waiting to be a life-programmer!). For ppl following the developments in biology, this isn't much of a surprise. And if this sounds scary to you sci-fi readers, fear more coz you can't even take refuge in the supposition that this is all a long way from now and they work only at the level of bacteria.

In fact, there are already patents on how to create synthetic 'virus-like' particles and J. C. Venter Institute filed for patent on synthetic life (bacterium) almost a year ago! If you can't recall the name, this is the institute that first sequenced complete human genome and not surprisingly, it belongs to the founder J. Craig Venter. (keep an eye on JCVI's advances for more exciting news)
We already know how to create viruses for a while now and recently scientist have tweaked bigger life forms (Engineered Mosquitoes Could Wipe Out Dengue Fever).

Before debating on how ethical it is to play with nature, remember that most of our technological advancements either mimic or tweak nature.

Look from the positive side and these technologies offer us new tools to make our lives better. They help in creating new kind of drugs, and more 'natural' ways of production. Craig Venter, in a talk few days ago, confirmed that their institute has at least one strain of bacteria that can convert cellulose to ethanol and they are working on creating other such life forms for mass production of bio-fuels.

Hundreds of researchers in synthetic/systems biology are working day and night to understand and invent new techniques from nature that might sound like sci-fiction even today.

But we should remember one thing. Apart from celebrating or fearing these innovations,
now is also the high time to think about how to control them from getting into bad hands or monopoly of a few firms. We definitely don't want another IBM or Microsoft of biosystems
(imagine reading news like "Microsoft released a new patch to fix bugs in Life 2.0").

The more powerful a technology is, the more potential it has to do good/evil.

And the ability to control life is by no means a negligible power.