Scientists working to build a life form from scratch have applied to patent the broad method they plan to use to create their "synthetic organism". The J Craig Venter Institute's US patent application claims exclusive ownership of a set of essential genes and a synthetic "free-living organism that can grow and replicate" made using those genes.

A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood, the Lancet reports. The man emulated Star Trek's Mr Spock — the Enterprise's science officer who supposedly had green Vulcan blood.