Nature, improved

The vast majority of you who read my blog are probably aware of my obsession (a strong word perhaps, but apt) for science: wake up, eat, science, sleep, repeat. As a result of both curiosity and my natural tendency to wander the internet, I tend to focus my energies on learning things within a specific area due to an article I read or something of that nature. I call these "kicks", and for the next few blog posts I'm going to introduce you to a recent obsession of mine: synthetic biology.

Figure 1: Obligatory futuristic depiction of your DNA!

For centuries, humans have had to operate within the confines of nature. Want to cure your fever? Find an herb. Want to have bigger cows? A combination of careful breeding and finger crossing should do the trick! Now when we're faced with a problem (say, why don't we have better cancer-fighting enzymes), we are presented with a third option: make it up. We now have the power to craft our own custom DNA, create new cells, and effectively "edit" life as we know it.

Will these technologies be known to history as man's triumph over the universe, or will they be our downfall? I'll leave that for the ethicists to decide, but you can't deny that these technologies are pretty interesting! So stay tuned for some background into synthetic biology and where our technologies are at in 2014. You don't want to miss it!