probably not the first thing that springs to mind when thinking synthetic yeasts, but I cannot wait for a yeast that gives raspberry flavours to beer and can ferment at basically any temperature.
evolution is mainly a haphazard process where something gets carried over because it offers some advantage to the organism at that specific time in that specific environment (be it looks, as might be the case of humans, or survival as in antibiotic resistance for bacteria).
going back to brewing, humans have been breeding yeasts for fun and profit since we discovered we like beer/wine/mead and everything else that ferments. a less haphazard process but still error-prone, to be sure.
I would be skeptical about any significant developments in multi-cellular organisms, though. that involves a lot of moving parts that need to talk to each other in just the right way. also some ethical challenges there, which will most certainly come up (remember cloning?). for a sneak preview, just look at unethical dog breeders.
probably not the first thing that springs to mind when thinking synthetic yeasts, but I cannot wait for a yeast that gives raspberry flavours to beer and can ferment at basically any temperature.
evolution is mainly a haphazard process where something gets carried over because it offers some advantage to the organism at that specific time in that specific environment (be it looks, as might be the case of humans, or survival as in antibiotic resistance for bacteria).
going back to brewing, humans have been breeding yeasts for fun and profit since we discovered we like beer/wine/mead and everything else that ferments. a less haphazard process but still error-prone, to be sure.
I would be skeptical about any significant developments in multi-cellular organisms, though. that involves a lot of moving parts that need to talk to each other in just the right way. also some ethical challenges there, which will most certainly come up (remember cloning?). for a sneak preview, just look at unethical dog breeders.