“Biohackers should produce a microbial uberfood for the world”

“Biohackers should produce a microbial uberfood for the world”….

Just as hackers break codes, so do biohackers. Only, the latter are breaking and re-writing the code of life. They work with the software of all living organisms – DNA. And rather in the way that a computer engineer might try to get the videogame Quake running on an oscilloscope, biohackers can get a piece of DNA that makes fireflies glow to do the same thing in a houseplant, thus saving on electricity. All organisms seem to be descended from a common ancestor, so it is possible to mix and match many, but not all, genes from a variety of sources in a single organism. You really can hack things together.

So, if we want to know who is going to change the world next, should we be looking for two women in a garage somewhere, using cheap, accessible equipment such as water baths and plastic electrical units for separating pieces of DNA? Of course, the idea of unlicensed, unregulated hackers tinkering with the building blocks of life naturally causes alarm in some quarters.