by Andrew Maynard | Feb 11, 2009 | Emerging Technology, Religion, Synthetic Biology
Charles Darwin has a lot to answer for. He saw the world with new eyes, fundamentally changed our understanding of nature, and upset a lot of people in the process. 200 years after his birth, Darwin’s work underpins modern biology. His findings still challenge,...
by Andrew Maynard | Dec 26, 2008 | Oversight, Synthetic Biology
Last June I wrote a short piece on biohacking, prompted by a UK report on the social and ethical challenges of synthetic biology. At the time, I though the aspirations of the nascent biopunk community naively optimistic, but potentially worrying. Six months on,...
by Andrew Maynard | Dec 17, 2008 | Communication, Engagement, Policy, Synthetic Biology
Policy, public perceptions, and the opportunities and challenges of synthetic biology Synthetic biology—a supreme expression of scientific hubris, or the solution to all our problems? Like everything in life, I suspect that the answer to the question is far from black...
by Andrew Maynard | Nov 13, 2008 | Ethics, Policy, Synthetic Biology
Looking back to chart a course to the future This coming lunchtime*, former New York Times columnist Denise Caruso will discuss the promise and pit-falls of synthetic biology with Center for American Progress senior fellow and former Washington Post science reporter...
by Andrew Maynard | Oct 10, 2008 | Civic Science, Synthetic Biology
Sitting here absorbing the atmosphere at the Synthetic Biology 4.0 meeting in Hong Kong, I have the strangest feeling of being transported into a Kim Stanley Robinson novel. It’s not the cutting edge science being presented that is responsible, exciting and...
by Andrew Maynard | Sep 30, 2008 | Communication, Public Perception, Synthetic Biology
The October issue of Esquire magazine is remarkable. Not for the world’s first e-ink cover (appearing on limited special editions of the magazine). But because three of the five scientists featured amongst the seventy-five most influential people of the twenty first...
