The world’s smallest synthetic lifeform can now move by itself
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Synthetic bacteria aren’t natural, and now scientists are starting to give them new abilities. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Japanese scientists have “engineered the...
New genetic firewalls keep engineered alien bacteria safe from outside attack
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We’re becoming increasingly adept at coding life and created new kinds of DNA, and that’s good and bad … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog....
Scientists used CRISPR to create a superbug resistant to all viruses on Earth, again
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is the second time we’ve created a superbug, and it shows how powerful gene editing technology can be. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Do you remember the time I talked...
Scientists built a perfectly replicating synthetic cell
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future not all organisms will be children of Mother Nature … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Synthetic cells and basic synthetic organisms that have no equal or equivalent in...
New tests prove Covid-19 virus wasn’t made by humans in a lab
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our mastery of synthetic biology improves so too does our ability to create new types of artificial bio-weaponry, and it’s freaking governments out. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A decade or so ago the mere thought...
German scientists just created the world’s first self-replicating synthetic cells
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our ability to make fully synthetic DNA and genomes accelerates inevitably scientists will want to cross the next step – making living, alien organisms that replicate. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The creation of life is...
Scientists get closer to creating synthetic cells that can replicate themselves
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our grasp of synthetic biology improves we’re nearing the point where we can create completely synthetic, unnatural cells not found anywhere in nature, and get them to replicate. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. It’s one thing...
Synthetic lifeforms closer to reality after AI creates world’s first synthetic genome
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The creation of the world’s first fully synthetic genome by an AI is a major milestone in synthetic biology researchers quest to create the world’s first fully synthetic lifeforms. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Scientists from ETH Zurich...
Designer cells with two genetic codes give life on Earth a serious upgrade
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future not all life will be organic, increasingly more of it will be synthetic, and that’s a game changer that at the very least means aliens and the X-Men could become real. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore...
Scientists create Nanobionic plants that detect chemicals and could grow on Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to bend nature to our will has its advantages, but it could also help us create plants that grow naturally on alien planets. Plants are naturally amazing little machines so, naturally, scientists think that giving them a bionic leg up could unlock...
Scientists built an 8 base pair DNA double helix with potential to create new lifeforms
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF DNA is the universes’ most advanced programming language, and we might have just given it a boost of infinite proportions. DNA is wonderful. And powerful. After all, it gave us everything from the dinosaurs and dolphins, to us, and, of course, the world’s first...
Solar panels made from cyborg bacteria promise even cheaper energy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cyborg bacteria could be used to replace today’s silicon solar panels with higher efficiency, lower cost panels that help accelerate the renewable energy revolution. Although most life on Earth relies upon photosynthesis as its sole source of energy, the process has a weak link...
Semi-synthetic cells could revolutionise everything from sensors to healthcare
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to create semi-synthetic cells that have both organic and inorganic properties opens up a whole world of new use cases that span everything from biotech to new forms of manufacturing. The more we study natural biological cells, the more we learn about...
Scientists have built the world’s first biological ‘teleporter’
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We have reached the point where we can digitise life itself, albeit at a micro scale, and that opens up a whole host of new opportunities, from being able to create bespoke synthetic organisms to teleporting life across the universe. The chance of a...
World first as scientists use two new DNA letters to create new “alien” life form
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Life’s DNA has always been coded using just four letters, but now researchers have added two new letters and it opens the door to a whole new world of alien lifeforms never seen before. Ever since life gained a foothold on this fragile rock...
