»Making lifr-forms from scratch (sort of)«

A new technique now allows the rapid synthesis of viruses from a blueprint. So far blueprints have been those of real microbes. But you could design one yourself and have it made overnight.

According to this report (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994383)

Quote:

The ultimate aim of the project, funded by the US Department of Energy, is to create microbes with special properties, such as the ability to sequester carbon dioxide or consume toxic waste. The speed of the technique means it could also help accelerate any research in which large sections of DNA are used, for example gene therapy, vaccine research or agricultural biotechnology.

Is a new bio "Skynet" coming?