Controversial news in science. III
June 18, 2010
Sorcerer II completed a 2 year scientific expedition circumnavigating the globe in mid latitudes collecting samples of microbes in seawater for genetic sequencing and cataloguing. She was designed to be not just a world cruising yacht, but one that would be capable of handling the extremes in latitudes, from equatorial heat and humidity to latitudes between 60 and 70 degrees. Today John Craig Venter is a millionaire businessman and has become a remarkable biologist being regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his invaluable contributions in genomic research. He is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and scientific awards including the 2008 National Medal of Science. On May 10, 2007, Venter was awarded an honorary doctorate from Arizona &#&State University&#&, and on October 24 of the same year, he received an honorary doctorate from Imperial College London, just to mention some of them. He is also a member of many prestigious scientific organizations including the National Academy of Sciences. He was listed on Time magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He has become one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in science today. As an example let's say that on September 4, 2007, a team led by Venter published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human. It was Venter's own DNA sequence. By one side Venter's admirers consider he has managed to make a completely new "synthetic" life form from a mix of chemicals. His detractors or at least "not admirers" think he hasn't created Life, he's simply performed what a virus would, manually. He's inserted a synthetic genomic string (DNA+RNA pair) into an EXISTING cell, and watched the existing cell replicate itself according to the new genomic stringconsider that the only synthetic creation was the AND who needed a previous alive cell to multiply herself and to live. Some of them believe that this creation will start a "new industrial revolution" and others fear could be extremely dangerous to our environment and eventually to the future of mankind! Two extremes very separated, as frequently happens in science. "We are entering an era limited only by our imagination," Venter said and for me it is a wonderful vision full of hope and optimism. |