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When Mac Cowell says he wants to help people "do biology as a hobby," he's not talking about pinning insects to foamcore. He's talking about splicing DNA and reprogramming bacteria to create genetically engineered machinery.
The pushing of complex scientific information beyond the doors of hallowed institutions has been tagged with several modifiers: citizen, amateur, DIY, hobbyist. Call it what you will, but the "democratization of science" is flourishing. Nowhere is this trend arguably more evident than within synthetic biology, a field that applies engineering principles to the study and construction of biological systems. Through collaboration and an open-sourcing of genomic databases, Cowell and others hope that biohacking (with its etymological nod to the self-trained computer-programming movement) will provide nonscientists the opportunity to tinker with living machines.
