You’ll remember the recent announcement about the first synthetic life form, created by team Venter. But what does that mean, really? How truly synthetic is it really? What aspects of Nature needed to be input in order for it to be viable? Too much for it to be called truly synthetic? What dreams are out there to do better? What’s the science behind such a challenge? How did the mechanisms for life that we know know actually evolve, and what steps are adjustable or reproducible?
These questions and many more are addressed in a lovely special edition of BBC radio’s Discovery programme, on the World Service. The audio is up for a while here. I strongly recommend it.
Enjoy!
-cvj
