Scientists have assembled the first synthetic virus.
The US researchers built the infectious agent from scratch using the genome sequence for polio.



Scientists are divided about whether a virus is alive. For those that think it is, then this synthetic artefact would constitute a simple form of life.



Responding to criticisms that such research could lead to bioterrorists engineering new lethal viruses, the scientists behind the experiment said that only a few people had the knowledge to make it happen.
More scary stuff here.