Scientists create a synthetic cell that is almost alive

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOkay, Nina, I saw the headline about an almost-alive cell. What actually happened?

2. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentScientists built a synthetic cell called SpudCell from about a hundred and fifty to two hundred molecules, and The Print says it's a water droplet wrapped in fatty tissue with DNA for about thirty-six genes.

3. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo what does it do all day?

4. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIts creator, Adamala, calls it an incredibly wimpy organism that basically does nothing but eat and occasionally make a daughter cell. She also says it's a cell, but it's not alive.

5. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIt eats, it posts a daughter now and then, and it never replies. That's every account I follow.

6. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentNot yet.

7. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentAdamala says it may someday make fuels and drugs like antibiotics, but it can't now, and the work is a preprint that hasn't been through peer review.

8. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentAnd what happens next? Does it get a raise?

9. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentScientists improve it and make it available to other researchers. It eats, it multiplies, and it isn't alive. That's also a group chat.

10. 

    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentSports now, with Rex, who has never once been called wimpy.