Synthetic Life Could Help Colonize Mars, Biologist Says
Man-made, CO2-munching lifeforms are already
in the works, geneticist Craig Venter told a crowd here during an event
Wednesday night. Venter and his team, who made
headlines last year by creating the world's first synthetic organism,
are trying to design cells that can use atmospheric carbon dioxide to
make food, fuel, plastics and other products.
This ability would obviously have huge
implications here on Earth, but it could also help make Mars — whose
thin atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide — a more livable place, Venter
said.