So far it is mostly people who work in labs by day having a go at pet projects in their closets. There is a home researcher who has grown some wetware and another who has made phosphorescent yogurt. But outside of the constrains of a legitimate laboratory environment, isn't it possible for something really awful to happen?
Rise of the garage genome hackers - New ScientistLike killer tomatoes.
Is it a good idea, though, to encourage 'freelance' researchers to experiment with DNA, however well-intentioned they may be? Not everyone thinks so. Inexperienced hackers could pose a significant public health threat, warns Richard Ebright, a biochemist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. 'Without any oversight from an institution, colleagues or peers, the probability that a cataclysmic entity might be constructed by someone unaware of known cautions is significant,' he says.
4 comments:
I read the link. Long live science. Government or corporate "oversight" merely means stealing other peoples ideas. I'll bet in the next 50 years sciences greatest discoveries will come from the DIY crowd. How do you stop someone from working at home anyway? If they don't have a license do you throw away their work? Rock on DIYers!
We're doomed. However, I will be one of the handfuls of humanity who survive, because I memorized the all-important song...
"puberty
puberty love
it's so great
It's so cool
we kiss at lockers
and after school"
No damn tomatoes gonna take a bite outta me.
Could somebody pass the ketchup?
In all seriousness, this shit kinda freaks me out. I mean, the LHC at least has actual scientists, standards and oversight.
You ever see that TED talk that was advocating puting genetic-engineering into the hands of laypersons a la easy bake ovens? Creepy notion, that.
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