In today's ScienceExpress, researchers led by J. Craig Venter report that they have built a genome from scratch and used it to control a cell. The breakthrough—$40 million and more than a decade in the making—is a critical milestone in the burgeoning field of synthetic genomics. But it also raises important scientific and ethical questions.
If you've got questions of your own, we want to hear them. Type your queries into the comment box below or e-mail them to news-info@aaas.org by 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday. Science news writer Elizabeth Pennisi and philosopher and scientist Mark Bedau will field selected questions, and we'll post their responses on Friday evening.
For more information, read our full news coverage or the original paper--both are free.
[UPDATE 5/21] Your questions have been answered. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
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