Lego of what you know

You know you’re dealing with a hot scientific topic when you keep coming across the phrase “orders of magnitude”, as in something is going to change the world by orders of magnitude. It’s a favourite phrase of people in lab coats when they’re all shivery about something and want you to know it could be a really big deal.

Well, take it from me, synthetic biology is this century’s hot topic by orders of magnitude. It’s the closest we’ll ever come to playing God. Annoyingly, it isn’t quite playing God because, after all, the big man started with a squeaky clean slate. But thanks to synthetic biology we can now tinker with His toys at the deepest level. Our chance, if you like, to right the wrong designs of the past and create an upgraded Universe 2.0.

Since the dawn of science, biologists have looked behind nature’s curtain to work out what’s happening back there. Their 21st-century cousins, synthetic biologists, don’t just look behind the curtain to ask “what is it?”, but also “what can we do with that?” They’re rummaging around re-engineering what nature intended and making artificial versions of life’s basic building blocks. And then they use these like genetic Lego, called BioBricks, to make new stuff.

So far, using this genetic Lego, synthetic biologists have made an essential part of an anti-malarial drug. They’re creating “bactoblood“, an E. coli-haemoglobin mash-up which works like freeze-dried soup – just add water to make blood. They’re working on a renewable biofuel, made from E. coli and sugar, that outperforms petrol. And in Japan they’ve mixed a fish with a highlighter to make a fish that glows in the dark.

And there are many other, less worthy but far more fun ways to re-create nature. Council workers won’t have to wipe graffiti off walls anymore. They’ll have to kill it. Tomorrow’s “Cock Piss Partridge” will be a living organism that grows on Alan Partridge‘s car.

Can’t decide whether to get a dog or a cat? With synthetic biology you can spec out the exact personality you want for your pet. “So you could have a cat that would be more obedient and do tricks like a dog,” says futurologist Ian Pearson.  “Or a dog that was a bit more independent so less need for walkies.”

Your mobile phone will be photosynthetic and charge up from the sun. And then there’s the iPhone that’s never out of date. Tom Knight at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told me: “One day when you go to the store to buy the latest iPhone, what comes in the package will be not just the iPhone but a factory that makes more iPhones.”

When will that happen? “I’ll be surprised if it isn’t with us within 30-40 years,” he says.

And then we get to have some real fun. One of the aims of Knight’s Synthetic Biology Working Group is to grow a house, that is, reprogram an acorn so that it grows oak floors and a roof instead of trunk and branches. “There’s nothing that should stop us from doing that,” says Knight.

Synthetic acorns that grow into houses? Now that’ll be a different world by orders of magnitude.