Inorganic life - first steps


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Scientists Take First Step Towards Creating 'Inorganic Life'

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2011) ? Scientists at the University of Glasgow say they have taken their first tentative steps towards creating 'life' from inorganic chemicals potentially defining the new area of 'inorganic biology'.

Professor Lee Cronin, Gardiner Chair of Chemistry in the College of Science and Engineering, and his team have demonstrated a new way of making inorganic-chemical-cells or iCHELLs.

Prof Cronin said: "All life on earth is based on organic biology (i.e. carbon in the form of amino acids, nucleotides, and sugars, etc.) but the inorganic world is considered to be inanimate.

"What we are trying do is create self-replicating, evolving inorganic cells that would essentially be alive. You could call it inorganic biology."

The cells can be compartmentalised by creating internal membranes that control the passage of materials and energy through them, meaning several chemical processes can be isolated within the same cell -- just like biological cells.

The researchers say the cells, which can also store electricity, could potentially be used in all sorts of applications in medicine, as sensors or to confine chemical reactions.

The research is part of a project by Prof Cronin to demonstrate that inorganic chemical compounds are capable of self-replicating and evolving -- just as organic, biological carbon-based cells do.

The research into creating 'inorganic life' is in its earliest stages, but Prof Cronin believes it is entirely feasible.

Prof Cronin said: "The grand aim is to construct complex chemical cells with life-like properties that could help us understand how life emerged and also to use this approach to define a new technology based upon evolution in the material world -- a kind of inorganic living technology.

"Bacteria are essentially single-cell micro-organisms made from organic chemicals, so why can't we make micro-organisms from inorganic chemicals and allow them to evolve?

"If successful this would give us some incredible insights into evolution and show that it's not just a biological process. It would also mean that we would have proven that non carbon-based life could exist and totally redefine our ideas of design."

The paper is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

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Wait so...

What?

So non-living matter is essentially being turned into living matter?

I get that this is basically using the existing organic materials in things such as chairs, tables, and other inanimate obects to self heal, change color or have other non inanimate traits. But surely that then leaves the question of how do we define living?

and without being a bit daft, wont/couldnt this result in some weird pseudo movement much like PETA, but for say, what to do with your "living" but inanimate tv?

I no were seeing more work at Nano level but this is getting a little weird now. The day I come home and the TV has suffocated due to it having caught an infection and become allergic to the polymers used in it, will have me lol`in my head off

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They're trying within 10 years to create "cells" (and perhaps organisms) that do not contain what we look at as organic molecules but still compete, replicate, and evolve. Part of this is to show how life may have started, and part to prove that non-carbon/non-DNA based lifeforms are possible in the universe. If they also prove useful would be sauce for the goose, until of course they object ;)

Professor Lee Cronin @TED

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Hmmm dunno this seems a bit far off. The idea and concept Im all for but its essentially a wild goose chase, built into another wild goose chase. He says we dont know what the 1st link (i.e animal tho probs bacteria) was and seems to suggest that we can get over the stumbling block by creating our own version of this just by using 3 building blocks.

How do we know these 3 block will produce results, just because weve shown amino-acids are created under re-creation of "primordial soups" doesnt mean we have a snowballs chance in hell of getting the vast vast vast array of variables associated with the start of life correct, hell if anything he may just well end up proving that evolution has chosen carbon based life, because only it is maintainable at the high functioning state of "human" and that only carbon based life is able to achieve this.

Essentially the scope on this is massive and due to its near limitless and infinite possibilitys, one hell of a task, but as I say we may end up proving that the scope isnt so massive and that like the speed of light and other variables is almost hardcoded into the univeral machine.

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