Scientists have been playing God for centuries and to many of them ‘playing God’ seems like an odd turn of phrase but it is fairly accurate. Where human ignorance leaves a gap of knowledge and leaves us wanting an explanation, we have tended to fill it with the supernatural. At one point, the sun and moon were chariots tugged through the sky by gods, while the Earth was held in place by one - scientists who have modelled gravity and built rocket engines are therefore just as guilty of ‘playing God’ as any biologist.

We have been able for many years to manipulate materials to a massively impressive degree. We can take black sludge and rocks from the ground, and almost with magic (well, actually, chemistry) transform them into televisions, desks, chairs, houses and cars. We can protect and adapt ourselves to any environment the Earth can throw at us, surviving in conditions that would have killed even the hardiest of our ‘natural’ ancestors. Saying that scientists must create ‘life’ in order to play God is surely limiting God to being quite an impotent character indeed.