Alok Jha meets Dr Adam Rutherford to discuss his BBC Horizon documentary Playing God, which explores the exciting industrial potential and worrying moral dilemmas posed by synthetic biology. This new field's radical aim is "to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please".
Alok is joined in the studio by Observer science editor Robin McKie to rake over some of this week's hottest science news stories, including recent observations that suggest almost every star has at least one planet – with huge implications for the discovery of life beyond Earth – and research showing that Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park got it right about leaping Velociraptors.
Finally, the show features an excerpt from Fuel Theatre's series of Body Pod podcasts which bring leading scientists and artists together.
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