@CelticCatEyes

This information is definitely available at the university level, as well as at some forward-thinking and sufficiently well-equipped high schools with biotech programs. I agree that a culture that encourages open publication of results and an oversight board that helps to guide researchers with ethical and safety issues are two things that help such university programs flourish and be useful.

However, people will still do biology in home labs, and I'd love to see them offered the same kinds of resources.

I'd encourage anyone interested in the discussion of certifications to join in at:
http://groups.google.com/group/diybio/browse_thread/thread/b7cc9972929be6fe

Cheers,
Jason

@Edward,

Glad to hear it! Is there somewhere we can read more about her work?

@Noz,

You might be interested in looking into the emerging field of synthetic biology. Take a look at http://partsregistry.org and http://biobricks.org for a library and standard of reusable, composable DNA parts.

@George,

That's certainly true. I think it's paramount to focus on making education and safety information freely and openly available to amateurs.

-Jason

@jmp478 - haha, a small world indeed; Eric Mill (mill-industries.com) of isitchristmas.com used to work withthoughtbot.com, who made umbrellatoday

@TonyC I think we threshold it at a low (but non-zero) chance of precipitation, so you might get a little wet on some non-umbrella days. Would you prefer it to message you if there's any chance of precipitation (honest question)?