"Heralding a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first time 
have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic 
instructions, researchers at the private J. Craig Venter Institute announced 
Thursday.

"We call it the first synthetic cell," said genomics pioneer Craig Venter, 
who oversaw the project. "These are very much real cells."

Created at a cost of $40 million, this experimental one-cell organism, which 
can reproduce, opens the way to the manipulation of life on a previously 
unattainable scale, several researchers and ethics experts said. Scientists 
have been altering DNA piecemeal for a generation, producing a menagerie of 
genetically engineered plants and animals. But the ability to craft an 
entire organism offers a new power over life, they said.

The development, documented in the peer-reviewed journal Science, may stir 
anew nagging questions of ethics, law and public safety about artificial 
life that biomedical experts have been debating for more than a decade."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559004575256470152341984.html


For those who prefer a wordier, metaphor-filled version:

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16163006


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