Over at the Patent Docs blog, Kevin Noonan writes about the semi-collective fear surrounding synthetic biology (at least among the general populace). Noonan covers the leading figures in the field -- Craig Venter, Tom Knight, Drew Endy, and George Church -- and provides a good introduction to research they've done. Overall, he contends, the opposition party bears a strong resemblance to Chicken Little, and "the temperature of the debate always seems overheated," he writes.