This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It's Manmade.

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

Scientists have long dreamed of discovering the alchemy by which chemicals can be turned into life. On Wednesday, a team at the University of Minnesota announced that it had taken a major step toward that vision.

Blending together dozens of ingredients, the researchers have synthesized simple cells that feed, grow, reproduce and compete with one another for food. If these cells are not yet fully alive, they have most of the hallmarks of life.

“Life is not binary,” said Kate Adamala, a synthetic biologist who led the research. “That’s why I’m hesitant to call this ‘alive.’ There’s no clear line, as much as we would love it to be.”

Until now, scientists had never mastered the recipe for a cell that can perform so many functions, said John Glass, a synthetic biologist at the J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla, Calif., who was not involved in the study.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/07/01/science/spudcells-synthetic-cell.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uVA.Wvs7.RY-OET5NOt13&smid=url-share

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Gift link from John Scalzi's post on Bluesky:

Whoa

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 2026-07-01T14:23:09.229Z

You should see the replies there.

[BaronChocula]

1. That would be more like abiogenesis

Not alchemy. But fascinating and scary at the same time. Can't wait for this to get into the wrong hands. Maybe fElon Musk wants in on this.

[ToxMarz]

2. If they are wondering about classifying it an "intellegent liifeform"

The MAGAts have really lowered the bar on that definition.

[Ford_Prefect]

3. Man made Cancers???

[Prairie_Seagull]

4. Interesting, my initial thinking is

how does the quasi cell build, make or coalesce the exterior membrane. Seems to me this is a big deal for the cell.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Since they can get the cell to divide over a few generations, it sounds like they solved that

One big problem they haven't solved yet is:

For all this evidence of life, SpudCell still has some major shortcomings. For starters, it can’t make the molecular factory that produces new proteins, called a ribosome. The cells can carry all the genes they need to build ribosomes, but for some reason the parts don’t come together.

For now, Dr. Adamala and her colleagues have to feed ready-made ribosomes to SpudCells. This solution has an expiration date, though: SpudCells can keep making proteins through five to 10 generations before they fail as their ribosomes become defective.

“I don’t want to say it dies, but it stops working,” Dr. Adamala said.

[msongs]

5. the blob...

[CaptainTruth]

7. I for one welcome our new cell overlords.