THE RISE OF THE CITIZEN SCIENTIST is the focus of the next series of blogs. As synthetic biology has made open source, off-the-shelf toolkits available, and DNA sequencing has become cheaper, the same breed of curious-minded enthusiasts as the early computer hackers has arisen. These enthusiasts operate from garage labs and outside of traditional hierarchical science. Whether we like it or not, it is real, and here to stay. And it has consequences.