Craig Venter has produced what he calls a “synthetic cell.” He inserted a laboratory-made copy of the genetic material from one bacterial species (Mycoplasma mycoides) into a cell of a related species (Mycoplasma capricolum). The introduced genome took over and the recipient cell acted and replicated like natural M. mycoides. By altering the gene sequence inserted into a cell, this technique could be used to create organisms suited to specific tasks. Do you consider an organism created in this way to be a new life form? What properties would you look at to make this decision?