25 Dec 2008
Amateurs are trying genetic engineering at home

This is nothing if not horrifying - but, as with nukes, there's really no way top put this genie back in the bottle. As one of the DIY hackers notes, a terrorist need go through none of this, he could just enroll in some biology classes at the local community college.

It fills me with foreboding - if a computer hacker screws up we might get a Morris worm, but one fuck up on the part of these biohackers and humanity itself may well end up dead.

Merry Christmas.

AP - The Apple computer was invented in a garage. Same with the Google search engine. Now, tinkerers are working at home with the basic building blocks of life itself.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

13:31 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Religious Shelters Feel Squeezed by Rules

We're from the government, and we're here to help...

Requiring homeless shelters to provide hot dinners and transportation may force some of them to shut.

(link) [New York Times]

12:55 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link