Source:- Google.com.pk
Philosopher wrestling with the big questions of life are no longer alone. Now scientists are struggling to define life as they manipulate it, look for it on other planets, and even create it in test tubes.
In June, researchers replaced the genetic identity of one bacterium with that of a second microbe. Other scientists are trying to build life from scratch. NASA scientists are searching for life in space but aren’t sure what it will look like. And some futurists are pondering the prospect of robots becoming so human they might be considered a form of life.
So as scientists push the bounds of biology, astronomy and robotics, a big question looms: What exactly is life?
That question is bubbling up from recent advances in lab work.
In suburban Washington this summer, prominent scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute, who were key players in mapping the human genome, switched DNA from one bacterium into another, changing its genetic identity. That put the world on notice that man’s ability to manipulate life is dancing around the point of creation.
Now Venter is asking for a patent for a completely new bacteria that would be created by inserting genes into a hollowed-out cell of what once was a urinary tract bug. Venter doesn’t view that as creating life, just “modifying life to come up with new life forms.”
At least half a dozen other research teams around the world are going farther, trying to create life out of chemicals, mimicking the beginnings of life on Earth. They’re somewhere from three to 10 years from success, they figure
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
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QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
QUOTES ABOUT LIFE
