'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists

21 May, 2010
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

Scientists in the United States have succeeded in developing the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA.

The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.

The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms. the rest

Church warns cell scientists not to play God

Scientist accused of playing God
While some hailed the research as 'a defining moment in the history of biology', others attacked it as 'a shot in the dark', with 'unparalleled risks'. The team involved have been accused of 'playing God' and tampering 'with the essence of life'.

Economist: And man made life-Artificial life, the stuff of dreams and nightmares, has arrived
On the face of it, then, artificial life looks like a wonderful thing. Yet that is not how many will view the announcement. For them, a better word than “creation” is “tampering”. Have scientists got too big for their boots? Will their hubris bring Nemesis in due course? What horrors will come creeping out of the flask on the laboratory bench?