Science Fiction - Are we there yet?

Tom Ran, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

During his speech, Dr. Ran illustrates how today's "unbelievable" is tomorrow's "matter-of-fact" and how far the scientific boundaries can be stretched. Dr. Ran provides a peephole on the Synthetic Biology revolution. He speaks about a computer built out of DNA, that he has been developing together with Prof. Shapiro in the Weizmann Institute, and about the vision of creating tiny nano-submarines which will roam our body, search, analyze and destroy diseases (such as cancer), even before any external symptoms appear.  Dr. Ran speaks plainly about - creating new biological life, engineered bacteria that know how to fight cancer or recycle garbage, pre-historic men being resurrected in test tubes, water drops containing trillions of smart computers that answer questions, biological inspired technologies, the new Personal Genomics revolution - and tries to figure out where this is all heading to.