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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsControversial DNA startup wants to let customers create creatures
In Austen Heinzs vision of the future, customers tinker with the genetic codes of plants and animals and even design new creatures on a computer. Then his startup, Cambrian Genomics, prints that DNA quickly, accurately and cheaply.
Anyone in the world that has a few dollars can make a creature, and that changes the game, Heinz said. And that creates a whole new world.
The 31-year-old CEO has a deadpan demeanor that can be hard to read, but he is not kidding. In a makeshift laboratory in San Francisco, his synthetic biology company uses lasers to create custom DNA for major pharmaceutical companies. Its mission, to democratize creation with minimal to no regulation, frightens bioethicists as deeply as it thrills Silicon Valley venture capitalists.
With the latest technology and generous funding, a growing number of startups are taking science and medicine to the edge of science fiction. In the works or on the market are color-changing flowers, cow-free milk, animal-free meat, tests that detect diseases from one drop of blood and pills that tell doctors whether you have taken your medicine.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Controversial-DNA-startup-wants-to-let-customers-5992426.php
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)And breed like rabbits.
Laffy Kat
(16,383 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)A-Schwarzenegger
Original message
I inherited a mixed animal from Uncle living in woods.
Can animals have sex with different animals?
My Uncle Leonard was a hermit that lived alone
in the woods in the mountains for many years. He
had a little money that he left to my sister and
left me a bicycle and drums and this animal that is
part wild and looks and acts like several type
of animals. I would say part dog, part cat and
the way it climbs part monkey. There is some kind
of wolverine or that kind of animal too in my opinion.
I am afraid to take it to the pound if it is illegal
and they take it. Leonard was a scary man to me and
I just don't want to immediately let it go even
though he is dead I just have this funny feeling
I would be in for bad things if I got rid of it.
I don't know why he left me it except that one time
I listened to him tell me the story of his life.
My sister and I were his only relatives. He didn't
have a will but told a neighbor what he wanted
left to who. I don't want to keep it in the house. I am
afraid if I left it outside it would climb over
this big wall we have around the house and hurt
somebody or even eat something. It weighs about
25 or 30 pounds, has stiff fur that is different
colors and lengths, makes sounds kind of like a
digging badger and if you pulled a rope or something
through a cardboard box. It has claws more like a
rodent. The tail is short and furry, but it could
have been broken off or cut off, it doesn't look right.
It doesn't really play, but it looks at you and then
looks awy when you look at it. It likes to root around
in the garden but it is winter and there's not too much
damage it can do out there.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)I remember when the "test tube baby" was controversial. 30 years from now I would be willing to bet this is commonplace.
That is if we don't destroy ourselves first