craig venter institute.0 people on two coasts, including one nobel laureate, hamilton smith, and some of the top scientists in the world. >> so i'm much more like an orchestra conductor, you know, than the violinist. >> what do you think your greatest talent is? >> you know, i have an unusual type of thinking. i have no visual memory whatsoever. everything is conceptual to me. so i think that's part of it. i see things differently. >> venter likes to think big, and his latest advancement is no exception. so this is what all the fuss is about? >> this is the first synthetic species. >> and how long did it take you to make this? >> well, if you count the total time from the conception, about 15 years. >> and how many millions? >> about $40 million over that entire time period. >> in practical terms, it's about as useful as the mold that grows in a bachelor's refrigerator, but scientifically it's a milestone. the bacteria, which is similar to one found in the intestines of goats, was designed on a computer, man

[ticking] >> [chuckling] >> craig venter doesn't fit the stereotype of a world-famous scientist.

now it is my pleasure to introduce craig venter. the menagerie of his imagination, tiny bugs will save the world. so says "the new york times" in describing him and his work at the institute. venter was among the first to speak of the human genome and now sits beside on the new goal creating synthetic organisms that can produce useful compounds from food to fuel. to guide us through this interview, we have radio lab's robert krulwich. [applause] >> we are in kind of an unusual technical situation because craig venter is in san diego, supposed to be here is a little with something. so let's see, can you hear me? he is ill with something akin to mutinous. he's looking pretty good. can you hear me at all robert it'd be scary looking, he's not he's just ill. [laughter] we have a number of backup systems i suppose that we should employ. if worse comes to worse i will tell you what he would have done if i could control him like a puppet. [laughter] all right. that might mean he's hearing me. can you hear me? >> i can. >> maybe we lost you

here is synthetic life created by craig venter, a designed bacterium. here's claudia mitchell, the line between our tools and ourselves. she's using this prosthesis and controlling it with her mind through just thinking about how to move it that excites the nerves on her chest which are then translated into movement of her arm. and this is just the baby steps of what's occurring. here's a guy named hugh herr. did you print up the links that i sent? i don't know. anyway, great, there's a video of him at a ted conference. you got to look at this. this guy was a climber that got frostbite. he was caught in a blizzard for three days. both of his legs were amputated. these prostheses, which are extraordinary he can negotiate from seven feet to eight feet in height. he's a great climber before and now he says he's a much better climber. he said he would never go back to having legs. it's extraordinary. watch that video. and we have pharmacogenomics. targeting drugs to our individual genetic constitutions, to our biochemistries. i don't think anyone would stat

here is synthetic life created by craig venter, a designed bacterium. here's claudia mitchell, the line between our tools and ourselves. she's using this prosthesis and controlling it with her mind through just thinking about how to move it that excites the nerves on her chest which are then translated into movement of her arm. and this is just the baby steps of what's occurring. here's a guy named hugh herr. did you print up the links that i sent? i don't know. anyway, great, there's a video of him at a ted conference. you got to look at this. this guy was a climber that got frostbite. he was caught in a blizzard for three days. both of his legs were amputated. these prostheses, which are extraordinary he can negotiate from seven feet to eight feet in height. he's a great climber before and now he says he's a much better climber. he said he would never go back to climbing with legs. it's extraordinary. watch that video. and we have pharmacogenomics. we aren't just using trial and error and poisoning ourselves. here's embryonic stem cells that are being

here is synthetic life created by craig venter, a designed bacterium. here's claudia mitchell, the line between our tools and ourselves. she's using this prosthesis and controlling it with her mind through just thinking about how to move it that excites the nerves on her chest which are then translated into movement of her arm. and this is just the baby steps of what's occurring. here's a guy named hugh herr. did you print up the links that i sent? i don't know. anyway, great, there's a video of him at a ted conference. you got to look at this. this guy was a climber that got frostbite. he was caught in a blizzard for three days. both of his legs were amputated. these prostheses, which are extraordinary he can negotiate from seven feet to eight feet in height. he's a great climber before and now he says he's a much better climber. he said he would never go back to climbing with legs. it's extraordinary. watch that video. and we have pharmacogenomics. we aren't just using trial and error and poisoning ourselves. here's embryonic stem cells that are being