Get the ingredients together, put them in a box, and I would be the first person in line to buy one of these "World Kits"!

Horton hears a Who!! Anyone remember that animated movie!? Hmmmmmmmm Sounds like that movie was suppose to have a meaning behind it.

Humans are inching closer and closer to becoming 'godlike' in their own right.

The old story is that God made humanity in His image - the truth is finally starting to come out, that humanity created God in their image

Oh, and as for any religious ramifications, I think we can count on the 'believers' to dismiss this new development out of hand just like they do every other scientific advancement that serves to debunk their ancient dogmas.

Originally posted by SumnerKagan
Get the ingredients together, put them in a box, and I would be the first person in line to buy one of these "World Kits"!

I can picture the Billy Mays infomercial now, "have your credit card ready" and all "no COD'S please" hurry and get yours before supplies run out This concept is SOOO coool!!! I love science!!!

What I want to know it: How long before we can start eating it?

RNA synthesizes proteins from raw material. Give it raw material, RNA will synthesize with it.

DNA is a blueprint for the RNA to read so it knows what to synthesize with the raw material.

In this laboratory we have RNA enzymes replicating what they can replicate without having a blueprint in the form of DNA. So what do they synthesize when they dont have any outside blueprints? Themselves.

The scientists are surprised that these RNA enzymes are able to replicate without the aid of other organelles and cellular structures? I'm not. RNA is a complex chemical compound that performs a certain action when raw material is present and its either "given the message" to do something with it, or "no longer barred" from doing something with it. How does the cell communicate this message? Possibly with hormones or other enzymes.

These molecules aren't competing. They're just using up the raw material before the other ones do. Of course one type will be more prevalent.

This whole thing really doesn't impress me. I mean I'm glad for them. I suppose its some kind of big step for mankind but it is a far cry from life of any sort. Molecules that replicate? Sounds like a complex chemical reaction left unchecked. Like a chain reaction. Or cancer.

Now, if they stick a single strand of DNA in the mix and the RNA goes and replicates that...

Note: I'm no scientist. I could be wrong somewhere above in what I've written. But my understanding of the situation has left me unimpressed. Except for the last part that is.

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by alienesque
where did god get his dirt?..cant make things from nothing remember..

God made it/created it from nothing. That was the idea of the joke. Even though we can take resources and makes something out of it, we cannot create a resource. That would be something God does.

......we are always told by the religious that something cannot come from nothing...thats their main critic of evolution (even though it has nothing to do with evolution)..which is odd...because its ONLY the religious that claim that something CAN come from nothing...not 'evolutionists'...science does not claim this...it admits it doesnt know where and how everything started...only the religious are that arrogant.

so...why do the religious disagree with their own theories?....the religious claim that something cannot come from nothing..they laugh at science for supposedly claiming it can (something that science doesnt actually do but nevermind)...they then claim that something CAN come from nothing...as youve just done..!!!

so...two questions....

1..can something come from nothing or not?
2..how do the religious manage to trick themselves to such a degree that they dont even agree with their own theories..without giving themselves a headache?

Originally posted by OuttaHere
It sounds frighteningly as if they have created a virus, or something on its way to being a virus, that can replicate itself OUTSIDE of a host cell and can probably survive in a very inhospitable reducing atmosphere under high heat conditions. This does not seem like a good idea to me.

I say this is not a good thing.

I'm glad you brought this up because I was thinking it but didn't have a good way of backing it up. Currently there is scientific debate as to whether viruses are alive or not. Yes they replicate, but do they go through any kind of ingestion, growth, respiration... (that kind of thing). The idea of creating viruses isn't a new one and can recommend many a' sci-fi shows & movies that give examples. I believe a previous poster who mentioned the Law of Unintended Consequences has it right and we all should keep that in mind with anything new.

Originally posted by Lee_K
But i'm wondering where religion comes into all this?

There is a misconception that Christians will hate the idea merely because we believe God's authority is usurped. The truth is no matter what we do, God is still in charge. My worry, religiously, is that given our track-record of messing things up, that this could be a compounding problem beginning with ethics and ending with consequences for both the 'creator' and 'createe' lifeforms. If a person have a love for science so deep that the consequences be disregarded, then surely that could lead to a dangerous outcome.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by saint4God]

Originally posted by Gaiden
This story will make Christians mad.

I am a Christian. Grrr. I am so angry. I want to...like...hit something...like a keyboard or my calculator. So mad that scientists like myself are using science to try new things. How dare they. So mad, so mad.

Originally posted by danj3ris
These molecules aren't competing. They're just using up the raw material before the other ones do. Of course one type will be more prevalent.

Here's the thing, scientifically it's called 'competition', but in the human world competing is a conscious action. These molecules aren't doing anything conscious, there's no 'decision making ability', no intelligence...but it certainly sounds that way when a scientist says competition.

Originally posted by danj3ris
Note: I'm no scientist. I could be wrong somewhere above in what I've written.

Sounds right to me. You've made very good points, don't sell yourself short. You don't have to be a scientist to understand the mechanism and many times being a scientists means being wrong. Show me a scientist who claims s/he's never wrong and I'll show you a scientist incapable of learning.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by saint4God]

This is interesting, but we must remember the adverb--"Nearly."
We nearly created life in a laboratory, but we still provided the initial spark. The amazing thing is that we gave it nothing else, yet it still managed to survive and replicate....

But, as far as creating life in a laboratory--why, that in itself is old news...which makes me wonder about all the comments about life evolving in this lab enviroment to the point of intelligent life that would then believe we were "gods"?

Whew! Come on! We wouldn't be here long enough for life to evolve to "intelligence"...besides, there are so many enviromental factors that shaped humans rise....It's not like you plant an evolutionary seed, and every time humans would pop up!

But I know you guys were just joking around, and it is a thought-provoking subject.