DailyDirt: Not-So-Spontaneous Generation Of Life...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Abiogenesis is the study of how life can arise from non-living materials. So far, there have been very few examples of creating completely synthetic life forms, but plenty of people are working on it -- in hopes that we'll eventually learn about our own origins and/or the potential for extra-terrestrial life. Here are just a few interesting links on the topic of synthetic life.

• The first man-made replicating species of a microbe has 100% synthetic DNA and cost about $40 million. Next stop on the dinosaur train: Jurassic Park! Keep your hands inside the car at all times... [url]
• Creating DNA from scratch could be getting cheaper and cheaper soon. But it's not quite cheap enough yet to just start building fully synthetic lifeforms at random... [url]
• Life may be getting harder to define -- it's not just replication and evolution. Or biologists need to include more things as living pretty soon... [url]
• Some chemists created one of the first synthetic self-replicating molecules in the 1990s. These types of molecules could be the basis of life that isn't based on DNA and RNA. [url]
• To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: abiogenesis, self-replicating molecules, synthetic life

James Joyce Estate Sends Takedown For Joyce Quote In DNA

from the a-portrait-of-an-intellectual-monopolist dept

Craig Venter, who is no stranger to advocating stronger and stronger IP laws -- especially in the area of "synthetic life" -- apparently learned recently how those laws can reach ridiculous levels. In a recent presentation, he noted that his team had encoded a James Joyce quote in the DNA of the "synthetic life" he's been trying to create. However, the James Joyce estate was not amused and sent him a cease-and-desist. Venter notes that he felt that it was fair use to include a quote. The quote was really short:

“To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life.”

To claim that this is infringement seems pretty ridiculous. What's unclear from the article, though, is whether or not Venter fought this or just accepted it and agreed to take the quote out. This isn't the first time that the Joyce estate has done stuff like this, including an attempt to stifle a biography by use of a copyright claim. In that case, the estate finally learned that they had no claim when they actually had to pay up to settle the case.

Filed Under: copyright, craig venter, dna, james joyce, synthetic life