Let there be artificial life!

Some scientists, led by Craig Venter, have created a synthetic cell that has replicated in their lab.

"Venter's achievement would seem to extinguish the argument that life requires a special force or power to exist. In my view, this makes it one of the most important scientific achievements in the history of mankind," bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania wrote in a commentary in the journal Nature.
Their achievement undermines a fundamental belief about the nature of life that is likely to prove as momentous to our view of ourselves and our place in the Universe as the discoveries of Galileo, Copernicus, Darwin and Einstein."

from the news story at Artificial life? Synthetic genes 'boot up' cell | Reuters

Synthetic life form accuses God of 'playing science'.

Ya, I had read that New Biscuit story before looking up the article about the real science behind it. Pretty funny take on it.

There's some concern that this synthetic life form might become a problem if inadvertently released into the organic world we all know and love. I'm thinking the cells that have evolved all the defense mechanisms to survive in the organic world will provide sufficient resistance to the newcomer. Although it is possible the synthetic will introduce something useful for the evolution of those organic brands into even more dangerous breeds, I think perhaps this cell requires the safety of its "sterile" lab to survive.

Extremely interesting at any rate.