Controversial US scientist Craig Venter, the man who caused the race to reveal the human genome, has taken one step closer to a bizarre sci-fi future with the creation of the first synthetic life-form on the planet.
This is of course interesting news. But what caught Stalker’s eye about the whole project was the basic building block of the new life-form. It was none other than the mycoplasm.
Stalker did wonder before about this type of thing when it first appeared in adverts on the front of The Mushroom People.
Now it seems this lowly bacterium which can be eradicated by industrial disinfectants, is now at the forefront of a whole new type of biology.
It is all very weird, and perhaps wonderful.
Some accuse Venter of acting like God, whereas of course he is only acting like a human, questing after new knowledge and new frontiers.
Whether or not doomsday scenarios follow, or new ways of helping the environment and mankind, we can only wait and see.
As Mr Spock might say - “It’s life Jim, but not as we know it.”