from the urls-we-dig-up dept In the early days of chemistry,
organic molecules were thought to require a living source. Then
Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea using a process that didn't
involve any living organisms. That chemical reaction struck down
the hypothesis of vitalism -- which suggested that living matter
was fundamentally different from inanimate chemicals. Over a
hundred years later, though, no one has really discovered how to
create living materials from scratch. Here are just a few
projects that could change that. - Martin Hanczyc gives a TED
talk about the difference between life and non-life. Making a
chemical "protocell" model might help us understand how life
develops from non-living materials. [url] - Working on metal-
based life could lead to the discovery of completely non-organic
life. Inorganic chemical reactions could form self-replicating
structures with sufficient complexity to begin evolutionary
processes. Maybe. [url] - Re-programming worms to create an
unnatural amino acid could be