Observations: What's next for synthetic life?

Observations: What's next for synthetic life?: "Although the researchers based their synthetic genome on the natural one, their cell did not behave exactly the same, Venter noted. Usually when you mess around with the inner workings of a cell, especially its genetic code, growth rate tends to slow. With this one, however, there was a substantial increase in the growth rate. 'That was a surprise,' Venter said. 'We have no idea why the cells grew faster.'"