The growing synthetic biology industry is developing tools to allow companies to program living cells the way we program computers.
Why it matters: Turning cellular engineering from an art to an industry could open the door to more sustainable energy, food and materials, but it carries the risk of making it much easier to create the biological equivalent of malware.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that it would establish a new group to investigate reports of unidentified aerial phenomena, sometimes referred to as UFOs, in restricted airspace.
The big picture: The announcement follows a widely anticipated report released in June that found 143 sightings of unexplained objects.
Why it matters: The mission is designed to test technology that could one day be used to change the course of a dangerous asteroid if one is ever found on a collision course with Earth.
