Feature

Life from Scratch

Learning to make synthetic cells

By Patrick Barry

- More than 2 years ago

Maggots don’t arise spontaneously out of dead, rotting meat. Aphids never materialize within drops of morning dew. Aristotle and others who believed in the spontaneous generation of life were dead wrong.

Combining a lipid membrane with self-replicating RNA-like molecules could be one way to create a living cell from nonliving molecules. Scientists may soon create such synthetic cells, and in the process learn valuable lessons about cell biology and the origin of life.