Regenesis (49 page)

answers objections to previous definitions of life,
56–59

engineered expansion of,
62

maximum limits to,
66

Repository for Germinal Choice,
119

resurrection of extinct species,
9–11

Rettberg, Randy,
187–189

ribozymes,
61

47-mer synthetic,
63

“Ripple Effect, The,”
99

RNA,
29

backbones,
68–69

highly conserved sequences of,
74

libraries,
32

mRNA,
60

replication of,
30

RNA replicase,
61

rRNA,
61
,
122–124

translational code,
70

tRNA,
60

stability of,
30

RNA world,
60

Rocha, Claudia,
180

Rockefeller family,
100

R.U.R
. (Capek),
180–181

safety (biosafety),
26
,
68
,
89
,
117
,
121
,
139
,
141
,
159
,
161
,
175–176
,
230–237
,
253
,
255
,
269–270

Sakharov, Andrei,
87

Sapphire Energy,
100

SARS virus, synthetic,
75

Savery, Thomas,
183

Scarab Genomics,
7

Schleiden, Mathias,
40

Schloendorn, John,
233

Schneider, Tom,
29

S, C, H, P, O, N,
18
,
252

Schmidt, Markus,
232

Schrödinger, Erwin,
55

Schuster, Stephen,
148

Schwann, Theodore,
40

Seeman, Ned,
80

Sellers, William,
183–184

Shannon, Claude,
210

Shelley, Percy Bysshe,
177

Shereshevsky, Solomon,
229

sickle-cell anemia,
205

Simon, Julian,
222

Sims, Bill,
106

singularity, the,
250

Singularity University,
250

SmartStrand carpet,
3–4

Smith, Hamilton,
47
,
75

Smolke, Christina,
171

Solazyme,
93
,
100

Sorona,
3–4

Southern Illinois University,
103

Southern Ute Indian Reservation,
92

space travel,
129

hazards of,
129–131

species loss,
88

Stanford University,
44

State University of New York-Buffalo,
51

standard biological part,
188

standardization,
183–186

steam power,
182–3

Stone, Richard,
145

Stuyvesant High School,
5

sugars,
42

Sullivan, Patrick,
179
,
199

Sussman, Gerald,
187–189

superviruses,
9

“synthetic” bacterium,
48–50

synthetic biology,
2–4
,
50
,
175

definition of,
2
,
163

difficulty of,
235

first use of term,
163

progress of,
157–158

prohibition of,
239–240

risks of,
231–232

“Synthetic Biohazard Nonproliferation Proposal, A” (Church),
235

synthetic genome,
48
,
74–76

as refutation of vitalism,
49

synthetic genomics,
4

definition of,
4

as recapitulating evolution,
12–13

Synthetic Genomics: Options for Governance
,
237

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas,
242

T cells (T lymphocytes),
112

helper T cells (CD4 T cells),
112

killer T cells (CD8 T cells),
112
,
114

Teller, Edward,
96

thalidomide,
22

theophylline,
33

Thomas, Jim,
226

Thucydides,
111

Tian, Jingdong,
174

Traité élémentaire de chimie
(Lavoisier),
17

transhumanism (H+),
227–230

arguments against,
227–230

travel speeds,
241

Tucker, Jonathan,
236

UAG (RNA stop codon),
70
,
79
,
123–135

Ultraclean Diesel,
103–104

Under the Microscope
,
45

universal machines,
4

University of California-Berkeley,
103
,
115
,
192
,
213

Critical Assessment of Genome Interpretation
(CAGI)
,
213

University of California-San

Francisco,
44

University of Florida,
103

University of Liverpool,
84

University of Ljubljana (Slovenis),
198–199

University of Texas-Austin,
190–191

University of Uppsala,
53
,
139

University of Wisconsin,
6

Up the Infinite Corridor
(Hapgood),
193

U.S. Navy,
93

Vanderbilt University,
52

van Gogh, Vincent,
229

Venter, J. Craig,
46–50
,
53
,
102
,
146
,
166–167
,
169–171
,
176–177

and “synthetic” bacterium,
48–50

Vibrio natriegens
,
6n
,
72

Vinçotte,
2

Virchow, Rudolf,
40

Virgin Atlantic Airlines,
91
,
94

viruses,
8–9

as genetic engineers,
45–46

replication of,
120

smallest viral genome,
126

vitalism,
20

challenges to,
20–21

fifth question for,
250–252

preference for organic produce as vestige of,
32–33

Volker, Nic,
89
,
216–217

von Neumann, John,
210–211

Voyager spacecraft,
197

war on drugs,
239

Watson, James,
30
,
213

Weiss, Ron,
171

“What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” (Nagel),
39

What Is Life?
(Schrödinger),
55

Wilkins, Maurice,
55

Willoughby, Rodney E.,
131

Wilmut, Ian,
135

Wöhler, Friedrich,
20

synthesis of urea,
20

Wolfram, Stephen,
242

Woman Who Can't Forget, The
(Price),
228–229

woolly mammoth,
137

Adams mammoth,
144

Dima,
137–138

Hook mammoth,
141

Jarkov mammoth,
141

possible resurrection of,
10–11
,
145–146

“World's Most Dangerous Ideas, The”
227

Wright brothers,
150

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering,
80
,
163
,
245
,
255

yeast,
2
,
27
,
40
,
76
,
77
,
147
,
172–173
,
188
,
190

engineered, to terraform Mars,
194

yellow fluorescent protein (YFP),
190

Zettl, Alex,
115

Zilinskas, Raymond,
236

Zimov, Sergey,
146
,
148–150