CGS-authored
Bay Area futurists and their fans are gathering Saturday in a coming-of-age celebration for the fledgling field of synthetic biology, which builds living entities from lifeless chemicals.
With its young roots firmly secured in Bay Area universities, this new science aims to transform genetic approaches to research in medicine, energy and agriculture — building microbes that kill cancer, yeast that produces fuel or spiders that spin Kevlar-strength thread.
At the weekend's first-ever "Convergence '08'' conference at Mountain View's Computer History Museum, leaders will exchange news from the front lines of research, hoping to excite the public about synthetic biology in the same way that developers of integrated circuits in the 1960s ignited the field of semiconductor electronics. The conference will also feature debates on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and longevity.
But opponents are organizing their own movement, as well. In an invitation-only meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, 80 activists discussed strategies to contain the research. They fear it could accidentally escape from the labs of well-intentioned scientists into the environment — or be used by terrorists to make deadly diseases...
With its young roots firmly secured in Bay Area universities, this new science aims to transform genetic approaches to research in medicine, energy and agriculture — building microbes that kill cancer, yeast that produces fuel or spiders that spin Kevlar-strength thread.
At the weekend's first-ever "Convergence '08'' conference at Mountain View's Computer History Museum, leaders will exchange news from the front lines of research, hoping to excite the public about synthetic biology in the same way that developers of integrated circuits in the 1960s ignited the field of semiconductor electronics. The conference will also feature debates on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and longevity.
But opponents are organizing their own movement, as well. In an invitation-only meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, 80 activists discussed strategies to contain the research. They fear it could accidentally escape from the labs of well-intentioned scientists into the environment — or be used by terrorists to make deadly diseases...