Even if that does not happen, making lysergic acid in yeast is still a good idea.

ECONOMIST: LSD

Edwin Wintermute and his colleagues at Harvard have engineered yeast cells to carry out two of six steps in the pathway needed to make lysergic acid, the precursor of LSD.

ECONOMIST: LSD

Likewise, synthetic drugs amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy, plus a growing list of new potions can be cooked up in factories anywhere (and increasingly with harmless ingredients: researchers at Harvard University are trying to make lysergic acid, the basis for LSD and many other pharmaceuticals, from baker's yeast).

ECONOMIST: Illegal drugs