Aiming high...sort of like Icarus

It seems that some abitious scientist around the world(now don't laugh) think they can recreate in the lab, the primordial soup from which they believe life on Earth arose. Whether you believe in God or intelligent design or a supreme being or you're an agressive atheist, you must agree that the chances of recreating life in the lab are roughly the same as Britney recreating a career. Even if man did evolve from primordial ooze through zillions of chance mutations over billions of years, what makes these guys think they can throw a few amino acids in some sea water, zap it with and electrical cord and PRESTO....life? In a moment of clarity however, the quixotic scientists admit that there are a few minor hurdles to get over...

—A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.

—A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.

—A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.

Oh, is that all? Just an artificial cell membrane (only one of the most complex functioning biological systems known), a genetic system (one of the least understood biological systems), and a metabolic system(actually the mitochondria is believed to have been a seperate cell on it's own). That's like saying, "sure we can visit planets light years away. All we need is a propulsion system that can go the speed of light, a navigation system NOT based on the light of stars that originated hundreds of years earlier, and a water creation system for when we get there...but that's all."

There may be unforseen consequences to creating artificial life in a petri dish. Here's an example of human genetic mutation gone horribly wrong.