The Loom  In my new Dissection column over at Wired, I take a
look at a remarkable new experiment on E. coli. Scientists
randomly rewired the network of genes that control much of the
microbe’s activity and found that it generally just kept humming
along.  One thing worth adding…in an accompanying commentary,
Matthew Bennett and Jeff Hasty at UCSD write,  This conclusion
also flies in the face of the popular misconception among
opponents of the evolutionary theory, who believe that the
genetic code is irreducibly complex. For instance, advocates of
‘intelligent design’ compare the genome to modern engineered
machines such as integrated circuits and clocks, which will
cease to function if their internal design is altered. Although
sometimes it is instructive to point to similarities between the
design principles behind modern technology and those behind
genetics, the analogy can only go so far. Engineered devices are
generally designed to work just above the point of failure, so
that any tampering with their c