Feb 10
10
Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms,’ Molecular Kill-Switch Included
The Pentagon’s mad science arm may have come up with its most radical project yet. Darpa is looking to re-write the laws of evolution to the military’s advantage, creating “synthetic organisms” that can live forever — or can be killed with the flick of a molecular switch.
As part of its budget for the next year, Darpa is investing $6 million into a project called BioDesign, with the goal of eliminating “the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement.” The plan would assemble the latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, breathing creatures that are genetically engineered to “produce the intended biological effect.” Darpa wants the organisms to be fortified with molecules that bolster cell resistance to death, so that the lab-monsters can “ultimately be programmed to live indefinitely.”
Of course, Darpa’s got to prevent the super-species from being swayed to do enemy work — so they’ll encode loyalty right into DNA, by developing genetically programmed locks to create “tamper proof” cells. Plus, the synthetic organism will be traceable, using some kind of DNA manipulation, “similar to a serial number on a handgun.” And if that doesn’t work, don’t worry. In case Darpa’s plan somehow goes horribly awry, they’re also tossing in a last-resort, genetically-coded kill switch:
Related posts:
- Obama internet ‘kill switch’ bill approved The US senators pushing a controversial new bill that some...
- Did Texas kill an innocent man? For those of us keeping a casual eye on the...
- Battery 500 Project Charged Up over All-Electric Cars The Battery 500 Project recently held its kickoff meeting at...
- Feds sued to keep out of state’s gun affairs In the second major front in the war over gun...
- UCLA: Stem Cells Kill HIV According to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles,...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.