The centuries-old question that has always eluded a clear scientific answer is, “What is life?”

We may not yet have that definitive answer, but thanks to renowned scientist and author J. Craig Venter, we now have a type of “synthetic life.”

In his new book “Life at the Speed of Light” Venter explains how forms of life created in the lab could. someday very soon, be used to help feed the world’s hungry, purify polluted water, generate energy — even let you “download” a flu vaccine off the internet at home.

Does it sound like “playing God”? Venter’s work gives that phrase an entirely new significance.

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