DNA is code. Open source software hinges on the idea that when the code of operating systems is freely available for all to examine, challenge and perfect, better software results. Now the idea is spreading to biology and biotech.

In an article last year in Washington Monthly, Nicholas Thompson did a good job of introducing this new movement. Rob Carlson at the Molecular Sciences Insitute examines the parallels between OS software and biology, and then goes on to write a thoughtful examination of the possibilities of OS biology.