A ‘biopunk’ teenager displays how easy it is to access genetic synthesis equipment. (via jamurai)
I’ve come across this before but here’s a source for the quote with commentary attached. It also reminds me of the following,
O’Reilly says most of the action is in D.I.Y. biology — manipulating genetic code the way a previous generation of hackers manipulated computer code. “It’s still in the fun stage,” he says. Just ask Bill Gates. If he were a teenager today, he says, he’d be hacking biology. “Creating artificial life with DNA synthesis. That’s sort of the equivalent of machine-language programming,” says Gates, whose work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has led him to develop his own expertise in disease and immunology. “If you want to change the world in some big way, that’s where you should start – biological molecules.”
Here’s to You, Biology Hackers. [NY Times] Also worth checking out, DIYBio.
There are also books now - Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life. Think of the possibilities, would you eat meat that you grew in your sink? Maybe not right now.
(via thenoobyorker)
(Source: biopunk.org)
