Perhaps the least original thought I've ever had

With each passing press release, it's looking more and more like Craig Venter has missed his true calling as a Bond villain.

The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously achieved.

Any fule kno that 'assembled' is journalistic shorthand for 'kidnapped and forced to work in a hollow volcano'. Still, Hamilton Smith sounds like the sort of chap who ought to be able to fashion a glider out of latex gloves and pipette tips and escape to alert Her Majesty's Secret Service.