http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World- ... 0502?f=rss

Bit light on info as you'd expect with Sky, but interesting...

Very interesting, I'd even consider giving it a go (I always liked the fluorescent bacteria experiment).

Of course, I'm just waiting for HMG to ban such things for the home on "public safety" grounds.

Yes, I can't possibly see what's wrong with allowing people to mess about with genetically modified bacteria in an unregulated environment with questionable levels of knowledge about what they're doing.

When this stuff is done inside the lab, there's lots of safety routines in place to prevent contamination, and allowing the subject to be more fully assessed in it's capabilities. And there's been potential leaks before that have caused grief nationally, even with those in place.

So why doesn't the thought of the general public playing with this sort of thing fill me with a warm glow that it'll all be OK, I wonder?

This should be banned.

Yep, here we go.

The good majority of people don't have the know-how to create the next killer bacteria, and those that do work in bix expensive labs in North Kora, Iran, Russia etc.

Even if someone could, if they really wanted they would proceed to do it with illegal equipment.

Jesus Christ we let school kids do this sort of thing in pre-GCSE science.

Erm no we don't.

We absolutely don't.

We made stuff glow by adding chemicals to the solutions, not by changing the friggin DNA of bacteria!

I certainly changed the DNA of some bacteria to make them glow. We also extracted the DNA from some strawberries.

The closest thing we did was looking at bacteria and individual cells under a microscope.

We certainly never changed or extracted any. I'm not saying you're lying, but I find it incredibly hard to believe that schools would do that as an experiment.

We did mix stuff together for pretty glowing effects though.

It's exactly the same at a higher level

All DNA is is a collection of chemicals in a precise order

In all honesty if someone wanted to do this.... they could without the help of ebay.

I thought this was about the part on Bang goes the theory (iplayer it) about the guy on the boat getting 20 million samples of DNA or something like that to engineer bacteria that converts CO2 to O2 (I think that was what he wanted to do)

No it's not.

That's like saying a kid making popping film canisters with vinegar and bicarb is the same.

Well done for taking the first sentence out of context without the rest of my post about what DNA is

All you are doing is modifying the molecular chemistry of an object. it's the same as taking aspirin in what it does at a root level.

That's a stupid argument, whether I quote the whole post or not.

It's like saying a kid at school making acids is being taught to make bombs.

Pah, I think you'll find it's all merely applied physics ATEOD.

The point is, whether or not this stuff is taught at some degree in school or not, having unregulated people playing with god knows what at home, in non-lab conditions is asking for trouble. IMHO.
Hey! Let's have a look at the flu virus, for a laugh. You get the idea, surely?

Prof, you're absolutely right.

[demeaning manner]All DNA is is a collection of atoms with precise proton, electron and neutron arangements[/demeaning manner]

I also agree with the fact that this could be very dangerous.

@ prof.

No, I don't get the idea really. Do you know how few bacteria survive for even a few hours outside of lab conditions?

And we're talking about bacteria here, harmless ones. Where is a MOP going to get a virus from?