by Andrew Maynard | Feb 3, 2016 | Emerging Technology, Public Health, Risk, Synthetic Biology
In just a few short weeks, Zika has shot from being an obscure infection to a headline-hitting public health disaster. The virus is spreading rapidly across the Americas (and potentially beyond), is suspected of being associated with birth defects that affect brain...
by Andrew Maynard | Jul 10, 2014 | Emerging Technology, Synthetic Biology
Jim Thomas of the ETC Group has just posted a well reasoned article on the Guardian website on the challenges of defining the the emerging technology of “synthetic biology”. The article is the latest in a series of exchanges addressing the potential...
by Andrew Maynard | May 26, 2010 | Emerging Technology, Future, Policy, Risk, Synthetic Biology, Technology Innovation
Last week’s announcement from the J. Craig Venter Institute that scientists had created the first-ever synthetic cell was a profoundly significant point in human history, and marked a turning point in our quest to control the natural world. But the ability to...
by Hilary Sutcliffe | May 25, 2010 | Ethics, Guest Post, Oversight, Synthetic Biology
A guest blog by Hilary Sutcliffe, Director of MATTER, a UK think tank which explores how new technologies can work for us all. The other day, I wrote a piece on the implications of synthetic biology where I suggested that we “need to place discussions on a...
by Guest | Dec 17, 2009 | Emerging Technology, Guest Post, Synthetic Biology, Technology innovation in the 21st century
By George Kimbrell, International Center for Technology Assessment, and the Center for Food Safety A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series Andrew asked us to write about “how technological innovation should contribute to life in...