Craig Venter

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Crack Team of Scientists' Goal: 'Make 100 the New 60'

Craig Venter, other experts to form Human Longevity Inc.

(Newser) - A crack team of scientists is coming together with an ambitious goal: Battle aging. Craig Venter, the geneticist who created synthetic life , is pairing up with stem cell leader Dr. Robert Hariri and Dr. Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize Foundation ; their Human Longevity Inc. has set its initial...

Biggest Geniuses of 2010 ... Picked by MacArthur Geniuses

Jon Stewart leads the pack of influential whizzes

(Newser) - The biggest intellectual, cultural, and technological achievements of the year were powered by these brains—some we know well, some we don’t. The Daily Beast got together with 20-plus recent winners of MacArthur “Genius” grant to determine the year’s smartest:
  1. Jon Stewart. Going beyond the biting Daily
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Don't Let Scientists Patent Synthetic Life

Genome pioneer argues for open access

(Newser) - Craig Venter's creation of the first synthetic life form is a milestone discovery but patenting it will hold back science, argues a British scientist who helped sequence the human genome. John Sulston—who clashed with Venter a decade ago when he sought to restrict access to genome information—tells the...

Geneticist Creates First Synthetic Cell

Designer microbes could eventually eat pollution

(Newser) - It sounds a little Frankenstein-esque, but a prominent US geneticist has created what he calls the first synthetic living cell. Craig Venter built the genome of a bacterium from scratch and implanted it in a cell, a development seen as an important step toward the creation of artificial life, the...

Exxon to Invest $600M in Algae-Based Fuel

Will partner with famed genome expert Craig Venter

(Newser) - Exxon Mobil, the biggest oil company in the world, will invest $600 million in turning algae into fuel, the New York Times reports. Known for blowing off concerns about global warming and dismissing biofuels—its CEO famously called ethanol “moonshine”—Exxon Mobil has in fact been researching alternative...

Scientists Move Closer to Synthetic Life

In a first, researchers create entire genome of a bacterium

(Newser) - Scientists have assembled the entire genome of a bacterium from basic chemicals, an important step toward creating a fully artificial organism, Reuters reports. "This entire process started with four bottles of chemicals," says Craig Venter, founder of the institute that did the work. Scientists had previously manufactured the...

Google Your DNA? It's Not a Far Off Fantasy

Genetic scans just need more processing power, says famed geneticist

(Newser) - Eventually, you may be able to Google the DNA of a prospective date to see if they've got any undesirable genes, geneticist Craig Venter said yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, cNet reports. The cost of a complete DNA sequence, once $70 million is now about...

Human Genome Mapped, but DNA Still a Mystery

Genes more complex than scientists thought

(Newser) - A new map of human DNA shows just how complex we really are – so much so that scientists can’t even pin down which genes are making our eyes blue. "I found out that I have [only] a high probability of having blue eyes," says azure-eyed biologist...

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