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| Man-mad life could help colonize Mars, biologist says |
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 Synthetic organisms engineered to use carbon dioxide as a raw material could help humans settle Mars one day, a prominent biologist says.Man-made, CO2-munching life forms are already in the works, geneticist Craig Venter told a crowd here during an event called Venter and his team, who made headlines last year by creating the world's first synthetic organism, are trying to design cells that can use atmospheric carbon dioxide to make food, fuel, plastics and other products. NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has finally arrived at the giant crater Endeavour, after nearly three years of intrepid driving across the surface of the Red Planet -- and what a view! A NASA spacecraft has been beaming to Earth incredibly detailed pictures of the surface of Mars. And the beautiful colors and rich textures of the red planet will shock you. This ability would obviously have huge implications here on Earth, but it could also help make Mars — whose thin atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide — a more livable place, Venter said. "These kinds of processes will allow us to make almost anything needed there from that CO2 environment," Venter said in a video presentation. First living organism Venter and his team announced in May 2010 that they had created the first living organism with a synthetic genome. The biologists constructed the genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides from many preassembled units of DNA. Then they transplanted the genome into the cell of a closely related species that had been emptied of its own genome. The "host" bacterium soon began to function and reproduce just as a naturally occurring M. mycoides would. The feat was more than just a neat trick. It showed that custom-designing organisms to do all sorts of helpful tasks is eminently possible — and may not be that far off. Creating new life forms could help "solve some of the fundamental problems of providing sufficient energy, food, clean water and medicines," Venter said. Venter, who also led a team that decoded the human genome a decade ago. said his top priority is using synthetic life to help solve these big problems on Earth. Our planet, after all, is set to add its 7 billionth person in just a few months, and population growth will not stop there. "Obviously, food and fuel production are at the top of our list and society's list," Venter said. To that end, Venter's company, Synthetic Genomics, is trying to develop synthetic algae that produce biofuels cheaply and efficiently. Synthetic Genomics signed a $600 million deal with ExxonMobil in 2009 to help make this happen. But the benefits of synthetic life don't have to be restricted to our home planet, Venter said. While artificially made CO2-munching organisms could help stem the tide of climate change here on Earth, on Mars they could provide the building blocks of a settlement, using raw materials pulled right out of the Red Planet's air. "Use your imaginations to think of all the things, if you could design a cell, that we could make to change the future as we write this new software of life to create new sources of almost everything we need going forward," Venter said. (Source: Foxnews.com)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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