DailyDirt: Re-visting Vitalism

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Nov 14th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

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 the start of designing artificial lifeforms with unnatural traits. This achievement is just a proof of principle project that could lead to other biological techniques for modifying the genetic expression in all kinds of multicellular animals. [url]
To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: amino acids, biology, life, non-organic, organic chemistry, organisms, protocell, unnatural, vitalism

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chem geek, 14 Nov 2011 @ 9:44pm

Arthur C Clarke...
How about just trying to re-create all the life we know, but the mirror image of it? All the life we currently know has a certain chirality, but the opposite chirality is equally favorable energetically.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 15 Nov 2011 @ 1:07am

Vitalism Isn�t Dead
It just got transmuted into a non-living compound.
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- Michael Ho (profile), 15 Nov 2011 @ 6:33pm
  
  Re: Vitalism Isn�t Dead
  I suppose you think "both sides" of the vitalism debate should be taught in schools, too...?
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  - Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 19 Nov 2011 @ 3:12pm
    
    Re:Teaching The Controversy
    And while we�re at it, all sides of the religious debate. Why not?
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