Zappo said:
If they want to impress me, they'll have to make that thingy from scratch. Using cut copy and paste is too easy.
From what I read, it IS.
They're assembling the DNA one amino acid at a time.
My prediction is as follows:
The first hundred times they try it, the cell fails to divide, and dies within 24 hours.
The second hundred times they try it, the cell lives long enough to divide once, and then both copies die.
The third hundred times they try it, the cell lives long enough to divide a few times, but eventually the cell line dies out due to massive, increasing mortality rates.
The fourth hundred times they try it, the cell grows wildly out of control, consuming nutrients faster than they can be added, and dies out due to accumulation of waste products.
At certain points during the fifth hundred times they try it, the cell line escapes, but is unable to survive, and dies out before doing significant damage.
The 601st time they try it, the cell line escapes, and in spite of all of the controls, kills off the scientists (so noone is familiar with the work) contaminates the laboratory (so noone can get to their records about what they did) and goes on to destroy 99% of all life on earth.
I figure each "try" will take about a day, all together. That means we've got less than two years before the superplague arrives....
If you ask me, this whole affair is irresponsible in the extreme. Why the heck are they using a base organism that can infect humans, and cause ILLNESS!
Thankfully, at least someone is working on basic and advanced recombinations.
