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[Vector]

Only if we read cool stuff like...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's your choice.  Maybe we should have more than one, or something... I know that my taste tends to be more classical than modern.

[Il Palazzo]

How does a book club work anyway? Never been in one, and never seen one on the net.

[Vector]

How does a book club work anyway? Never been in one, and never seen one on the net.

A group of people decides to read a book by a certain time, and then discusses it.  Repeat.

[Il Palazzo]

Hmph. Of course.

If you do start one, I'm game.

[Eagleon]

There's definitely a few legitimate concerns about genetically engineered crops, but they're mostly based on the new genes "escaping" rather than any directly adverse effects on humans (so the people who don't want to eat stuff because it's genetically modified are silly).

Except for those who are extremely allergic to [x organism] and aren't so sure about genes spliced in from [x organism].  For example, the FlavrSavr tomato uses fish genes.

It may still be silly, but it makes a little bit more sense.

Allergies are caused by reactions to specific antigens, which I believe can be tested for in foods, regardless of their origin. Correct me if I'm wrong, but food allergens are also almost universally of protein origin (for instance, my mom, who is deathly allergic to peanuts, can eat products with peanut oil, though she doesn't usually risk it), so unless they used the specific protein that creates the reaction, you're almost certainly fine. If labs don't already test for the antigens a person reacts to when finding out the cause of an allergic reaction, the food distributors could also include a list of commonly reacted-to antigens that their product has been found to include.

Or else a person could just not eat it if they think it might be a problem, just like they don't eat fish.

I like this thread. Will be following along quietly and putting in input where I can

[Vector]

Right, the problem is that (as far as I know--it's been two years since I've needed this information) they aren't required to say where the genes came from or which proteins are being produced, and don't check for antigens in the finished product.  Not surprising, given that the precise genes used are probably a company secret, but there you have it.  Then, there might not be an easy choice to partake of GMOs or not, given their likelihood to dominate markets.

Meh.  Who knows, anyhow.

[Eagleon]

It just irritates me that the people pushing to ban GMO completely fail to realize there's already an enormous amount of regulation and pressure from the FDA and public to produce stuff that, you know, doesn't kill their customers. At least not in an immediate and entertaining way. Then efforts to use it to solve other problems, such as improved crops in impoverished areas, are hurt by hipster health-food windbags that still think "all natural" means "safe".

</rant> <useful>Hey, did you guys know about this? http://bbf.openwetware.org/</useful>

[Eugenitor]

<useful>Hey, did you guys know about this? http://bbf.openwetware.org/</useful>

Oh my crap I want to see this come to fruition. Almost sounds like a toy... "Hey, kids! Assemble your own organisms today!"

[Eagleon]

It's more of a tool for nanotech using proteomics than to produce living organisms, and a scary one at that. People don't normally think of proteins as anything but stuff a critter is made of, but they're actually complex three dimensional reactive structures, so they could potentially be used to make complex three dimensional structures that make diamond or other useful materials, eat toxic materials, do interesting computations, fixate oxygen/carbon/hydrogen into powerful explosives...

In analogy with programming, we're at the stage where we don't even have Assembly - everything is done by hand, down to the metaphorical logic gates and light bulbs. As far as I know, no one has made anything that actually reproduces itself. We may or may not be decades from being at the high-level language stage, where I don't even want to imagine the chaos oh god... Considering how useful this kind of thing could be, it might be a lot closer than that.

[Realmfighter]

The future sounds awesome.

[Aklyon]

The future sounds awesome.

It always does.

[Heron TSG]

Yeah, it's awesome living in a time full of flying cars and hover-packs.

[Realmfighter]

And now I'm sad again.

Good job.

[Qloos]

Trying to keep up with my thread, but work with overtime rolled in hard.  With off work hours that must be occupied with work related activities.

Maybe next week's topic will be dedicated to teaching each other how to do our jobs?

[Muz]

So, when are we going to learn to genetically engineer dinosaurs? OP should have synopsis of what we learned.. most likely suggested textbooks or online reading material on the subject.