tagged w/ Playing God
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The Canadian government is on the verge of approving the introduction of extremely bizarre genetically modified pigs into the Canadian food supply. These new mouse/pig hybrids have been dubbed "enviropigs" and are being touted as being much better for the environment.The Canadian government is on the verge of approving the introduction of extremely... more
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Troy Davis faces execution for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia, despite a strong claim of innocence. 7 out of 9 witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, no murder weapon was found and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime. The Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles has voted to deny clemency, yet Governor Perdue can still exercise leadership to ensure that his death sentence is commuted. Please urge him to demonstrate respect for fairness and justice by supporting clemency for Troy Davis.
He deserves another trial at the very least.
I'd want someone to speak up for me if I was thrown into this situation by false eyewitness testimony... Wouldn't YOU?Troy Davis faces execution for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia,... more
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A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life.
It's not as Frankensteinian as it sounds. Instead, a lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building simple cell models that can almost be called life.
Szostak's protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions, they could form a self-replicating, evolving system that satisfies the conditions of life, but isn't anything like life on earth now, but might represent life as it began or could exist elsewhere in the universe.
While his latest work remains unpublished, Szostak described preliminary new success in getting protocells with genetic information inside them to replicate at the XV International Conference on the Origin of Life in Florence, Italy, last week. The replication isn't wholly autonomous, so it's not quite artificial life yet, but it is as close as anyone has ever come to turning chemicals into biological organisms.
A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life.... more
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