College kids at their best:
http://2008.igem.org/Main_Page
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Wow, I must really live a sheltered life if I've never experienced one of these competitions. 
I'd heard about genetically engineered machines several times before, but was pointed to this international competition watching PBS.
This science/technology has gained significant traction during the last two years.
I spent about an hour scanning the site last night.
The iGEM abstract section (linked below) gives one paragraph project descriptions:
http://2008.igem.org/Jamboree/Project_Abstract/Team_Abstracts
One especially compelling project was made by the Duke team:
Attacking the plastic waste problem: a two-pronged approach
Culturally, I found it interesting that the entire Duke team was Asian (ethnically).
Especially interesting (to me) was Rice's BioBeer project, which intends to modify beer brewing yields to include Resveratrol, "a phytochemical used for defense in plants, (and) implicated as a natural product that increases life span and prevents cancer".
This science/technology has gained significant traction during the last two years.
I spent about an hour scanning the site last night.
The iGEM abstract section (linked below) gives one paragraph project descriptions:
http://2008.igem.org/Jamboree/Project_Abstract/Team_Abstracts
One especially compelling project was made by the Duke team:
Attacking the plastic waste problem: a two-pronged approach
Culturally, I found it interesting that the entire Duke team was Asian (ethnically).
Especially interesting (to me) was Rice's BioBeer project, which intends to modify beer brewing yields to include Resveratrol, "a phytochemical used for defense in plants, (and) implicated as a natural product that increases life span and prevents cancer".