Upgrade your browser!

Skip to Content

TED Talks: On the verge of creating synt...

"Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" asks Craig Venter. And his answer is, yes, and pretty soon. He walks the TED2008 audience through his latest research into "fourth-generation fuels" -- biologically created fuels with CO2 as their feedstock. His talk covers the details of creating brand-new chromosomes using digital technology, the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life. A fascinating Q&A with TED's Chris Anderson follows (two words: suicide genes).

  • Views: 1007
  • All Ages
  • All Ages

Related Media

  • Video:Retirin
  • Retirin
  • Of course, some people never retire... Old golfers n. . .
  • Votes 3.34/5 - Views 27 - Comments 0
  • Video:Cool Workshop
  • Cool Workshop
  • This guy fuses the antique with new technology to creat. . .
  • Votes 4.71/5 - Views 4316 - Comments 24
  • Video:Still Life
  • Still Life
  • A bizarre and eerie short film.
  • Votes 4.68/5 - Views 2153 - Comments 17

View All



Trouble playing the media? Click here to manually download it.

Rate This Video:
Rate it 0.5 Rate it 1.0 Rate it 1.5 Rate it 2.0 Rate it 2.5 Rate it 3.0 Rate it 3.5 Rate it 4.0 Rate it 4.5 Rate it 5.0

4.46 out of 5 based on 163 votes

Rating Results:
Earn XP by sharing this video!
learn more

Video URL:

Embedded Link:

Send This Video To A Cell Phone! Digg

9 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

sokrateas : LVL 24: VP 3.3: said:

sokrateas

0 votes NegativePositive

47 days 17 hours ago...

I figured this post would bring some interesting conversation here. Can`t wait to see how everyone feels about this.

stndspec : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

stndspec

3 votes NegativePositive

47 days 8 hours ago...

wow, and i remember calling bs on that star trek ep where a pathogen or something re-wrote the crews` dna, causing instant changes to their bodies.. that`s not something I ever expected to have to reconsider being possible.

Aesrin : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

Aesrin

1 votes NegativePositive

47 days 2 hours ago...

Please keep these coming.

assmaster : LVL 42: VP 5: said:

assmaster

-3 votes NegativePositive

46 days 16 hours ago...

Here come the Eugenicists. They will now have their wet dream tool.

pest.draco : LVL 7: VP 1.6: said:

pest.draco

0 votes NegativePositive

34 days 19 hours ago...

Wow badass idea. I`m worried that they might opps somewhere and create some nasty, aggressive virus though. Highly unlikly though

Csmack : LVL 28: VP 3.7: said:

Csmack

2 votes NegativePositive

34 days 19 hours ago...

Nice, he called out the corn to ethanol scam.

But it sounds like there`s some serious potential for alternative energy here. Anything that has a viable answer to doing away with the oil industry is worth investigating.

On an even more relevant note, in the screen shot it looks like he`s playing the air guitar, very cool.

Valaur : LVL 28: VP 3.7: said:

Valaur

3 votes NegativePositive

34 days 18 hours ago...

This is why I love spiked. We get loads of videos that make you want to piss yourself from laughter, think `WTF mate` with all the weird stuff thats posted, and videos that enlighten people.

think&write : LVL 15: VP 2.4: said:

think&write

1 votes NegativePositive

34 days 9 hours ago...

Craig Venter aka GOD. No, but seriously though, I hope they fail an experiment and create monsters...little cute and furry ones ;)

But seriously(seriously), this is amazing. It`s incredibly fascinating and scary at the same time. Now how long will it take before the US.government takes over the whole operation? Start your bets!

DmoteRanks : LVL 2: VP 1.1: said:

DmoteRanks

1 votes NegativePositive

30 days 14 hours ago...

The things we will see in our lifetime...

Post a Comment:

Avatar


The Spikedhumor Drawing!Spiked Humor Playstation 3 Contest
Prize
Entry Dates: 4/15/2008-6/15/2008