At this week’s Digital Life Design (DLD) conference in Germany, renowned scientists Craig Venter, Ph.D., and Richard Dawkins wowed the audience with a conversation about genes and information technology. They discussed how evolution is becoming man-made, which brings up a number of interesting issues.
“Genetics has become a branch of information technology,” Dawkins opined. There’s a good deal of evidence for his statement, including the announcement that Google-funded firm 23andMe launched its Web-based DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) testing services in Europe this week. 23andMe is one of a number of firms that sample an individual’s DNA in order to offer clues to their genetically-driven future.
Increasingly, life is being translated into bits of code to be manipulated in the laboratory. Last year, for instance, Venter’s team transplanted the entire genome from one species of Mycoplasma bacteria into another. A few days later, the DNA from the first bacterium completely took over the second and became indistinguishable from the donating bacterium.
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