Early last year a class of 16 students was able in one month to specify four genetic programs to make groups of E. coli cells flash in unison, as fireflies sometimes do.

• 好比说，去年初，就有16名大学生在一个月内设计出四种基因程式，让好几个大肠杆菌菌落可以像萤火虫那样集体发光；