Researchers record first ever HD movies of cells moving through the living body
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to watch cells move under the microscope isn’t the same as being able to observe them in their natural environment, and this breakthrough will lead to a better understanding of cell biology and help create new revolutionary medical treatments. In 2016 we...
Semi-synthetic cells could revolutionise everything from sensors to healthcare
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to create semi-synthetic cells that have both organic and inorganic properties opens up a whole world of new use cases that span everything from biotech to new forms of manufacturing. The more we study natural biological cells, the more we learn about...
Bioengineers hack biology to turn living tissue into any shape they want
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One of the largest ascending mega trends is Synthetic Biology, and as our command and understanding of the natural world increases it will help transform our world in ways you never thought possible. It turns out that many of the complex folded shapes that...
MIT breakthrough creates glowing plants that could replace street lights
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Around a fifth of all the world’s energy production is consumed by lighting, but in the future glowing plants could help provide us all with an infinite, renewable source of light. Plants at the moment are getting the royal treatment. They’re being turned into...
Scientists have a plan to seed life throughout the universe
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today we have the power to create new species of animals never previously thought possible and at some point it seems inevitable that humans will start seeding new life across the universe. In the past six months’ scientists have created alien life forms unlike...
DARPA wants to genetically engineer smart plants to act as surveillance devices
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Noone would suspect a plant of watching or surveilling them, but thanks to DARPA that’s all about to change. This week Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, the bleeding US research arm of the US Department of Defense, announced it’s working on a new...
Scientists have built the world’s first biological ‘teleporter’
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We have reached the point where we can digitise life itself, albeit at a micro scale, and that opens up a whole host of new opportunities, from being able to create bespoke synthetic organisms to teleporting life across the universe. The chance of a...
World first as scientists use two new DNA letters to create new “alien” life form
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Life’s DNA has always been coded using just four letters, but now researchers have added two new letters and it opens the door to a whole new world of alien lifeforms never seen before. Ever since life gained a foothold on this fragile rock...
World first as scientists use synthetic stem cells to repair a damaged heart
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traditional stem cell therapies can often lead to cancer down the line, but NC State’s new “generic” synthetic stem cells eliminate that risk and will bring stem cell therapy to millions more people who need it. Hearts are having a busy time in the...
Devastating bioweapon or humanity’s saviour? UN green lights the ‘Gene Drive’
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world’s most powerful genetic technology – one that could cure disease, and at the same time wipe out entire species in the blink of an eye – has just been green lighted by the UN, and now the genies about to come out of...
The ultimate bioweapon, scientists have developed an Extinction Gene
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists now have the knowledge and the tools they need to create, and deliver, Doomsday genes which can selectively target and exterminate entire species. Here’s a question that occurs only to madmen and geneticists… How do you get a gene that kills a species...
Modern farmers grow bacteria to grow better crops
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traditional chemical intensive farming methods change the ecology of our planet on a massive scale, by moving from chemicals to mocrobials farmers might be able to grow better crops, more productively and more sustainably. In the back of Indigo’s Boston headquarters, a start up whose...
Scientists lay out plans to build an artificial human genome by 2036
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When scientists can create artificial genomes they will be able to create new designer organisms, and humans, with entirely new, engineered properties and abilities. Scientists have put forward plans for a follow up to the Human Genome Project (HGP) with a proposal to create...
Brazil releases billions of genetically modified Mosquitos to combat Zika
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There will always be questions about the viability and impact of releasing genetically modified organisms into our environment but with billions of mosquitos being released it might already be a moot point Every Saturday morning, Maria do Carmo Tunussi goes door to door asking...
Top scientists met in secret to discuss creating the first artificial humans
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Synthetic biology opens the door for custom designed humans whose only parents are a computer. Scientists can already produce viable artificial human eggs and sperm but earlier this month they took everything one step further when an invite only group of about 150 experts convened...
Inside Ginkgo, the gene factory where robots help make new weird synthetic organisms
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Creating new lifeforms sounds like fun and they taste great too. Raising glasses of genetically modified beer, the synthetic biologists at Ginkgo Bioworks celebrated the launch of their new automated lab last month and you can take a virtual tour of their facility here. By...
Geneticists are creating a new form of life that is resistant to all known viruses
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Geneticists are now capable of creating new forms of life that are completely resistant to all known viruses. Geneticists have made a step forward in ‘recoding’ the genome as we know it, replacing 62,214 DNA base pairs in a synthetic E. coli genome and...
We are entering the First Age of De-Extinction
This might complicate our which came first question… There have been five mass extinction events since the Earth formed, the last being the death of the dinosaurs and many people believe that we are now in the Sixth Age of Extinction but the difference this time is that this event...
The history of the “Genesis Engine”, CRISPR
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists have discovered the Genesis Engine, a technology that gives them the keys to the Code of Life. Spiny grass and scraggly pines creep amid the arts and crafts buildings of the Asilomar Conference Grounds, 100 acres of dune where California’s Monterey Peninsula hammerheads into...
