{"id":656125,"date":"2010-02-05T11:37:41","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"Gizmodo-5465133"},"modified":"2010-02-05T11:37:41","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:37:41","slug":"darpas-latest-project-synthetic-creatures-that-can-never-die-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/656125","title":{"rendered":"Darpa&#8217;s Latest Project: Synthetic Creatures That Can Never Die [Science]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cache.gawker.com\/assets\/images\/gizmodo\/2010\/02\/highlander.jpg?w=340\" class=\"left image340\"  \/>Darpa, the Pentagon&#8217;s crazypants research arm, is taking shit to a whole new level: they&#8217;re pumping money into developing synthetic organisms immune to death. Oh, except for the built-in genetic kill switch. Yikes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/dangerroom\/2010\/02\/pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecular-kill-switch-included\/\">Danger Room<\/a> reports that Darpa is investing $6 million into the project, called &#8220;BioDesign.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>As part of its budget for the next year, Darpa is investing $6 million into a project called BioDesign, with the goal of eliminating &#8220;the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement.&#8221; The plan would assemble the latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, breathing creatures that are genetically engineered to &#8220;produce the intended biological effect.&#8221; Darpa wants the organisms to be fortified with molecules that bolster cell resistance to death, so that the lab-monsters can &#8220;ultimately be programmed to live indefinitely.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Darpa&#8217;s got to prevent the super-species from being swayed to do enemy work &#8211; so they&#8217;ll encode loyalty right into DNA, by developing genetically programmed locks to create &#8220;tamper proof&#8221; cells. Plus, the synthetic organism will be traceable, using some kind of DNA manipulation, &#8220;similar to a serial number on a handgun.&#8221; And if that doesn&#8217;t work, don&#8217;t worry. In case Darpa&#8217;s plan somehow goes horribly awry, they&#8217;re also tossing in a last-resort, genetically-coded kill switch.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course, this is no small task. Not only do you have the laws of nature to contend with, but you&#8217;ll have an angry God tossing lightning bolts down upon you for trying to do his job for him. But really, this is some crazy ambitious science we&#8217;re talking here. Be sure to read the full piece at Danger Room for the entire story. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/dangerroom\/2010\/02\/pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecular-kill-switch-included\/\">Danger Room<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/click.phdo?s=ed018e662c2fb037d35cfb80bb4d16af&#038;p=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" style=\"border: 0;\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/img.phdo?s=ed018e662c2fb037d35cfb80bb4d16af&#038;p=1\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"0\" width=\"0\" border=\"0\" style=\"display:none\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/a.rfihub.com\/eus.gif?resize=0%2C0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.gawker.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?a=Wgo5_HPilyQ:WtamhZ9MgAA:H0mrP-F8Qgo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.gawker.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?a=Wgo5_HPilyQ:WtamhZ9MgAA:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.gawker.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?a=Wgo5_HPilyQ:WtamhZ9MgAA:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?i=Wgo5_HPilyQ:WtamhZ9MgAA:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.gawker.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?a=Wgo5_HPilyQ:WtamhZ9MgAA:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/gizmodo\/full?i=Wgo5_HPilyQ:WtamhZ9MgAA:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/gizmodo\/full\/~4\/Wgo5_HPilyQ\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Darpa, the Pentagon&#8217;s crazypants research arm, is taking shit to a whole new level: they&#8217;re pumping money into developing synthetic organisms immune to death. Oh, except for the built-in genetic kill switch. Yikes. Danger Room reports that Darpa is investing $6 million into the project, called &#8220;BioDesign.&#8221; As part of its budget for the next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":288,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-2KGF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/288"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}