Growing up in California, J. Craig Venter didn't appear to have much of a future. An unremarkable student, he nearly flunked out of high school. After being drafted into the army, he enlisted in the navy and went to Vietnam, where the...

In 2010, scientists led by J. Craig Venter became the first to successfully create "synthetic life"-putting humankind at the threshold of the most important and exciting phase of biological research, one that will enable us ...