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.
The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.
I personally think that his claim of creating artificial life is a little bit oversold. It seems to be more a Frankenstein style creation of slapping different pre existing parts together rather then making anything from scratch.
Still, it is an achievement of sorts. So was the atom bomb.