Announcing the Winners of the io9 Mad Science Contest

Politicians may be worried about the dangers of scientists "playing god" with genetic experimentation, but we want biology to be brazen. We're rooting for mad scientists with homebrew closet labs, grassroots geneticists, and garage genome hackers — because they're the researchers most likely to change the world. And so, almost three months ago, io9 announced the world's first "mad science" contest, named after the kind of hero who keeps pursuing scientific innovation against all odds. Our contestants were asked to build a real lifeform using MIT's registry of standard biological parts known as "biobricks," or by using other scientifically plausible materials. And now, without further ado, we bring you the winners. More »

Deadline Approaches! Build a Lifeform and We'll Send You to Hong Kong or Give You $1000

io9 wants to encourage mad scientists in every field, but especially in the area of synthetic biology. That's because synthetic biologists are the people who are going to build new life forms, like ligers and unicorns and people with claws and glowing eyes. OK, they might build bacteria that can clean up oil spills and repair damaged kidneys too. The point is, building new lifeforms is the science of the future and therefore you can never have too many garage laboratories and mad scientists devoted to it. That's why io9 is sponsoring a contest to find two of the best synthetic life forms you can design for us. You've had almost two months to build that lifeform, and now the contest deadline looms! You've got until Monday, Aug. 25, at midnight to hand in your contest entry. All the details are below. More »