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Stephen Colbert

Should anything happen to Earth, the human race will now be insured.

Comedy Central announced Monday that the host of The Colbert Report will have his DNA digitized and sent to the International Space Station (ISS). According to the Associated Press, Stephen Colbert's gene package will be carried there by famed video game designer Richard Garriott, who will travel to the station in October.

Garriott will deposit the "Immortality Drive," a time capsule that will include human DNA and records of humanity's greatest accomplishments, along with personal messages collected specifically for the project.

This will be the second time Colbert goes intergalactic. In May, he was the first late-night host to interview an astronaut, Garrett Reisman, while he was in space.

In a statement, Stephen Colbert said he was thrilled to have his DNA shot into space, as this would bring him "...one step closer to my lifelong dream of being the baby at the end of 2001," referring to the 1968 sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In a statement, Garriott said: "In the unlikely event that Earth and humanity are destroyed, mankind can be resurrected with Stephen Colbert's DNA. Is there a better person for us to turn to for this high-level responsibility?"

Stephen Colbert's answer to that rhetorical question would probably be "no."

(Credit: JCVI)

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute have created the largest man-made DNA structure to date, putting them one step closer to producing a completely synthetic organism, according to the institute.

The work, published online by Dan Gibson, Ph.D. in the journal Science, raises hopes for benefits like new drugs and pollution scarfing micro-organisms while spooking some with visions of biological warfare and patent wielding corporations controlling all future forms of synthetic life.

The researchers chemically created DNA fragments in the lab then used homologous recombination (a process that cells use to repair damage to their chromosomes) in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to rapidly build the entire bacterial chromosome from large sub-assemblies, according to the press release. "This extraordinary accomplishment is a technological marvel that was only made possible because of the unique and accomplished JCVI team," said president and founder J. Craig Venter.

Venter dismisses concerns that what JCVI is really creating is the "microbesoft" of synthetic life. His team has long been concerned with the societal issues surrounding its work and has undergone"significant ethical review" by experts who founds no reason why work should cease "as long as the scientists involved continued to engage public discussion," according to the JCVI Web site.

Critics remain unimpressed. "Venter is claiming bragging rights to the world's longest length of synthetic DNA, but size isn't everything. The important question is not 'how long?' but 'how wise?'" said Jim Thomas in a bio-watchdog article castigating Venter.

"While synthetic biology is speeding ahead in the lab and in the marketplace, societal debate and regulatory oversight is stalled and there has been no meaningful or inclusive discussion on how to govern synthetic biology in a safe and just way. In the absence of democratic oversight profiteering industrialists are tinkering with the building blocks of life for their own private gain."

Next step would be to insert the synthetic DNA into living cells and hope it becomes the world's first artificially created, self-replicating organism.

Add a black light and the cat glows red.

(Credit: Gyeongsang National University)

This may be the fluffiest, freakiest thing since Alba, the green fluorescent bunny from artist Eduardo Kac.

South Korean scientists tinkering with fluorescence protein genes say they have bred white Turkish Angora cats to glow red under ultraviolet light.

The pair of cats cloned from a mother's altered skin cell are nearly a year old. The researchers told the AFP that their work could help unravel mysteries of some 250 genetic diseases suffered by both humans and cats. The findings also could be used to clone endangered tigers, leopards, and other animals, the report said.

However, it's unlikely that such psychedelic-looking cats would come to pet stores anytime soon. Debates about the ethics and safety of concocting cloned and transgenic animals continue to rage.

Genetic Savings & Clone, which charged between $32,000 to $50,000 for cloning cats, shut shop last year. But Spot's or Mittens' genes can be banked in a cryogenic chamber for $1,500, and hypoallergenic kittens cost between $6,000 and $28,000.

GloFish glow, too.

(Credit: GloFish)

California officials in 2004 banned the sale of GloFish, the world's first transgenic pet.

British scientists injected jellyfish genes into chickens and pigs to make them glow several years ago. Last year, Taiwanese scientists said they also spawned glow-in-the-dark pigs.

The cat experiment took place at Gyeongsang National University with funding from the Korean government.

Perhaps the biggest cloning story to hail from South Korea was the revelation in 2005 that a prominent doctor had faked a breakthrough in cloning humans.

(Via miguel23)

The company that makes art from DNA has turned a bit more Andy Warhol for an encore.

DNA 11, an online company that creates personalized oil paintings from the buyer's DNA or fingerprint, introduced a new way for people to buy art--by puckering up. In partnership with cosmetics company MAC, DNA 11 now lets people buy a personalized painting by sending in a print of their lips, or what are called Kiss Portraits. (It's very Marilyn Monroe.)

DNA 11 has been selling on-demand paintings of people's genetic code for years. Its art work has even appeared on the crime show CSI as a fictional way to trace a killer, but technically that's not possible. To create a work, DNA 11 collects a sample of the buyer's DNA, which is immediately sent to a special lab. (The lab doesn't keep records of people's names.) And then only a partial picture of the code is used to create an individual's painting--which typically looks like computer code on canvas.

Similarly with its new product, DNA 11 will send the customer a collection kit so it can create a high-resolution image of the lip print. (Buyers will presumably use MAC lipstick to blot a print.) The buyer can customize the color and size of paintings, which start at $290 and go up in price depending on size or framing. DNA 11 sells its art in museum stores such as New York's Museum of Modern Art and also online. With the Kiss Portraits, it's hoping to appeal to more women shoppers.

"Our products are for people who feel they have everything, want something truly original, or are decorating a living space," said DNA 11 co-founder Adrian Salamunovic.

Peer-to-peer company BitTorrent is set to announce on Tuesday morning the availability of a new enterprise content delivery product, BitTorrent DNA. Designed for companies that use streaming video, large downloads or games over the Web, the launch of BitTorrent DNA marks yet another conscious move by the San Francisco-based software brand to move beyond its roots as the creator of file-sharing protocol that became nearly synonymous with digital piracy over the past few years.

BitTorrent described the new BitTorrent DNA product in a statement as "the ideal solution for publishers seeking ways to overcome the obstacles associated with centralized content delivery, such as slow downloads, choppy video streams, and inefficient use of network infrastructure." The inaugural client for the new content delivery network (CDN) is online video start-up Brightcove, which powers a number of large companies' broadband media operations.

BitTorrent DNA will be used to "accelerate" the delivery of the video hosted on Brightcove's platform.

With the rise of online video and large-scale media downloads, content delivery has become a crowded niche in the market. BitTorrent DNA will square off with industry leaders like Akamai Technologies--the force behind CBS' video distribution network as well as a host of others. BitTorrent is hoping, however, that its massive following (150 million downloads of its client, according to the company) will help give it an edge.

In addition, the peer-to-peer format has become increasingly popular in the streaming video space, with recent entries like Joost and Babelgum touting P2P technology as the backbone for their professional-quality video content.

In February, BitTorrent announced that it was creating a digital download store that would use that robust user base as a way to legally transfer large movies, games and other files. The company has also forged alliances with major movie studios for legal film downloads.

Meanwhile, the exhaustive battle over online piracy wages on.

(Credit: NEC)

At this rate, we'll all be doing our own CSI-style investigations as technology becomes increasingly mainstream. The latest example is a "briefcase DNA analysis system" that can reportedly do a complete test at crime scenes in 25 minutes, as opposed to typical lab time of one day to a week.

The system, developed by Japan's NEC and Aida Engineering, combines several functions in one device and dramatically speeds the heating and cooling processes required for DNA testing. "The compact unit can be used to: (1) take cell samples, (2) extract the DNA, (3) perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to generate copies of the DNA, (4) perform electrophoresis to measure the spacing between DNA bands (to create the genetic fingerprint), and (5) perform short tandem repeat (STR) analysis to create a unique genetic profile for the individual," according to Pink Tentacle.

This particular system is designed for law enforcement professionals, however, for release in 2008. So don't expect to do DNA analysis to find out who stole your lunch from the fridge anytime soon.

(Credit: DNA 11)

Earlier this morning, fellow Craver Erica Ogg talked about how DNA-related gifts are all the rage this holiday season. Well, here's another option for genetics aficionados. A company called DNA 11 has several options for turning your biological fingerprint (or your physical fingerprint) into visually-pleasing artwork. Here's their gift-giving M.O.: you pay for the artwork before the fact, and then give a DNA collection kit to your favorite Watson & Crick fan for his or her winter holiday of choice. The recipient completes the instructions for a DNA sample, sends it back to the company, and in due time receives some pretty genetic art.

(Credit: DNA 11)

I saw an example of DNA 11's work at the Wired Store in NYC a few weeks back. It's pretty darn cool. In fact, CNET Reviews named DNA 11's "Glowframe" (see green thing at right) to be one of the ultimate luxury gifts of the '06 holidays.

Some of you might still find the DNA Participation Kit that Erica wrote about to be more appealing than cool pictures of stylized gene sequences. But a selection from DNA 11 might be a good pick for those of you for whom aesthetics are more important than cold hard facts, or if you don't want to assume the risk of learning that you might be related to Hitler, Caligula, or Ron Jeremy.

This is either a mildly interesting gift idea or a way to ruin the holidays/someone's life.

(Credit: GeneBase)

The DNA Ancestry Project has produced a CD-ROM Participation Kit that gives you information on your family history and heritage. Packages range from $119 to $199, not including shipping. The interactive features allow users to collaborate with other project participants to research his or her own ethnic and national origins back 150,000 years ago.

(Credit: GeneBase)

For a fun C.S.I.-style twist, there's a cheek swab kit included. The DNA Ancestry Project will trade you the stuff you've scraped off the inside of your mouth for your DNA results. The results, says Genetrak Biolabs, the project sponsor, let users "match yourself and other family members to famous people, like Genghis Khan and Marie Antoinette."

Here's where this gets interesting. What if you find out you're related to, say, Milosevic, or Mussolini? Worst holiday ever, right? But what if the results reveal you're a distant cousin of Martin Luther King, Jr., or even Martin Luther? A fabulous new story to tell your friends, or at least a new fact for your "About Me" section on MySpace.