Dr. Venter I presume? (Actual science stuff inside)

Yes. Venter, not Venture, although its pretty close.

Anyways, this guys says hes found out the minimum number of genes for an organism to survive... and he wants to patent it saying that simple organisms that create hydrogen or other useful things could be worth trillions.

Here's the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/jun/08/genetics.research

This article is all very serious but there is a splatter of hilarity in it. Counter-arguments to such experimentation of course include the unknown effects of man-made organisms running around, deadly diseases and such. But, ironically, the nay-sayers argue that time should be spent attempting to fix current problems like global warming.... wait, didn't he say he thinks these things can make cheap hydrogen? Isn't that like... something we want... to help fight global warming...?

Anyways, I say, make some organisms, and make them do awesome stuff, it's worth the risk.