The goal of creating synthetic cells is not to replace nature, but to learn more deeply about biology and reengineer it to ...

As genome editing therapies move through clinical trials to regulatory approval, scientists continue the quest for the holy ...

SpudCell is a new cell-like platform that can feed, grow and divide like a normal cell — but it's not yet a perfect ...

A major transition in evolution is the shift from asexual to sexual reproduction in early organisms. But why would a yeast ...

Synthetic cell SpudCell, the first built from non-living components by University of Minnesota synthetic biologists Kate ...

Fluorescent microscopy of SpudCell - a synthetic cell assembled entirely from non-living chemical components - undergoing division. Credit: Kate Adamala, Adamala Lab For centuries, the question of ...

A tiny bubble of lipids, enzymes and DNA has done something biologists have chased for years: it carried out a full cycle of ...

Teetering near endangered status, the starlet sea anemone produces “an ancient mechanism” for fighting viruses that ...

A prototype cell partly capable of replicating itself has been created using 36 existing bacterial genes, but it's not really ...

While many of life's mysteries remain unsolved, every biologist can describe the basic processes performed by a living organism, including energy use, reproduction, growth and development. While these ...

Scientists built a synthetic cell that combines more lifelike properties than ever before — proof of concept that it’s possible to bring nonliving materials to life, or something close to it, in the ...

Once you start seeing natural selection as a constant, omnipresent, and sometimes speedy force, almost everything else in modern life starts looking different. Below, Owen Jones shares five key ...