Craig Venter: A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea

www.ted.com Genomics pioneer Craig Venter takes a break from his epic round-the-world expedition to talk about the millions of genes his team has discovered so far in its quest to map the oceans biodiversity.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

[@benjis007]

I love these talks. I wish they were longer though. A full lecture. Thanks.

[@GnosisMan50]

I love these talks too..the music at the end is awesome too!

[@Mjhavok]

Very interesting stuff. I love genes, genetics and genomics :-D.

[@Celtic1433]

Previous comment rant over... Thank you again for such a fantastic lecture. Transport is needed which eventually needs oil. Burning oil is found to be bad but because of the cheap, abundant energy, we are able to pool immense amounts of brainpower. We then discover how to biologically manufacture organisms to undo the damage caused whilst we were growing up. Brilliant. Love.

[@Mjhavok]

When you are talking about synthetic cells and the possible creation of designer organisms of course they are gonna be in on it.

[@Celtic1433]

"If god really wanted us to believe in him, he'd exist..." Linda Smith. Love.

[@carlossanchez-pg7ij]

I loved

[@iouakick]

@iouakick that was meant to be 15:35 ... not 18:45 ;D

[@ElectronLord]

wisdom

[@nanfesii]

Hahahaha! that's how you convince ppl to keep founding the study :) keep it up XD i liked it :)

[@5micky2]

"All powerful" means no challengers. No usurpers. No upstarts. I can imagine an all powerful god saying: "The ability to make life is the greatest power there is. If I am to remain all powerful I cannot allow someone else to have this power. Therefore I am banning the creation of life by anyone but myself. And furthermore, I will put it in the holy books so there is no confusion about the matter." As it's not in the holy books, the books were not dictated by an all powerful god.

[@jettskys]

I'm confused as to what you're saying. It seems to be that as a Christain you're actually taking the blindfold off and coming to some kind of realization, yet at the same time you still stand for it and support that history.

[@Fisherofmen64]

DNA proves the existence of God. DNA is code, a language, instructions. You cannot have instruction without thought, you cannot have thought without a mind. That Mind is God. Whenever you find instructions in this life, if you trace it back to its source, you will ALWAYS find an intelligent mind behind it. God is the Programmer, DNA is the software and seeds are the hardware. Man will not succeed in playing God!

[@Mjhavok]

How about reason and rationality?

[@tiekoe]

Haha, Craig Venter explain the potential for an upcoming age of synthetic biology, and the initiatives that are being undertaken to promote this, and what is everyone arguing about in the comment section? His one remark on scripture (and yes, I know, this comment is very ironic).

[@swapanjain892]

thats why he is doing the real work and people who want to make themselves feel important talk crap and argue unnecessarily.

[@Jotinos]

People trust doctors because of connotation. The same reason why you fear modern science; connotation. All we know is what has happened to us in the past. People, pure or corrupt will put their own spin on it, but all true forms of science are devoted to expanding what we know to be possible. That's all.

[@con2477]

@karlkarlkarl1234 But you are a bioligy student karl not a biologist.

[@sciencemile]

I'm Atheist, but as Carl Sagan said "If you wish to make an Apple Pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe". So it's not really playing God anyways, unless the person's idea of God is very small (which it used to be, so you could say we're Playing God when we pay 200 dollars to sit on a "Throne in the Heavens" via airplane)

[@marianopicco]

This is really interesting. Luckily I have the education needed to understand most of it and its things like these that give me hope for the future. Just imagine a filtering machine made of these biological substances that can filter CO2 to produce oxygen or some other chemicals... Certainly would help.

[@TasteOfGreen]

@KevinismG There are some interesting reads in religious scriptures but to believe that they still have something substantial to offer the world then I say you are misguided, or perhaps just unwilling to let go of this part of your life. After all, surgeons don't look to 18th century medical texts on how to do procedures.

[@katsamuein]

while this is true (the four didnt write them), it would make my first post more complicated. did not want to overburden people ;)

[@d00m0racl3]

What?? the abrahamic religions specifically ALLOW slavery, they even have codes of conduct as to their treatment & captivity, (do not beat a slave to death, make slaves of others not your own people, etc). many of the other faiths also have complacency towards it as well.

[@levonet33]

==== Where the information in DNA come from? Oh I forgot, only intelligent being can produce it.

[@katsamuein]

"dont beat your slave" doesnt actually allow slaves. it doesnt change a non-slave-holding society into a slave-holding society. it changes a slave-holding, slave-beating society into a slave-holding, non-slave-beating society. ..small steps to a better world these were, but still..

[@twohseven]

@ReasonwriterD703 i stand by my points although this is youtube, wrought with censorship, trolls and albeit a small but voiceful population of sane and intelligent people, yet we are the minority it seems.. anywho i know GMOrganisms and i know craig venter too. And I dont agree with the bioengineering industrys ways because they are completely (as with all modern models from astrophysics to chemistry) missing a vital foundation of science that is universal natural law and the science of man...

[@scooterwes]

Wrong. The gospels almost certainly WEREN'T written by Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. They were forged under those names. Matthew and Luke were basically copied from Mark, with a few additions and enhancements.

[@sheepwshotguns]

i'll second that. religion has driven us for long enough, time for a new navigator; science.

[@Celtic1433]

Can any xtians please tell us where this sort of stuff is in the bible? You know, useful stuff that has real value? No? Love.

[@Hottides]

An all-powerful god might not necessarilly ban the Bible, but an all-wise one certainly would.

[@Jotinos]

@twohseven My friend, you need to defend your point if you want it to have any validity. I will say that GMOs are unhealthy by their definition. If we consume mutated foods, then we will become mutated. But you're one of the ignorant people you refer to; if you pay attention to the video Craig Venter isn't talking about altering organisms, he's talking about synthetically creating ones of our own! No modifications going on here, just creation.

[@edoardo866]

Sei troppo bello con la barba... voglio essere come te

[@5micky2]

At 15.55 "..religious leaders were using their scriptures as lawbooks and couldn't find anything in them prohibiting making life.." Pretty well proves the Bible is an ancient work of fiction. The idea we could create life would not have been conceivable to ancient humans. But an all-powerful god would ban it at the start.

[@Goosemeyer]

the first five books of the bible (which are Gnostic and do not suppose the "christ"as more than a metaphor) were written not by St.Paul of Tarsus, but really Appolonius of Tyana, and despite popular belief that the old testament was written by Moses 5,800 years ago, Archaeology and discovered Sumerian writing dates the move from a polytheistic belief system to the god of war, Yahweh a mere 2,600 years ago.

[@iouakick]

18:45 what the hell does it matter what religion has to say on making life in the lab?..why even bother asking them?..what if they did find something in their little books that said "thou shalt not try to create life"?.. would the research have been put on hold?..its a sad sad world if the great works of science have to seek permission from dogmatic religions to make discoveries.

[@SilverShadow02]

selfish people cannot understand the bible.

[@Mjhavok]

Bioethics has feck all to do with religion.

[@friedrichschopenhauer2900]

Obnoxious intro!