--- title: "Scientists Just Got Closer to Creating Artificial Life in the Lab" description: "Scientists have created an RNA-replicating molecule in the lab — and brought the world one step close to creating artificial life." date: "2024-03-12" modified: "2024-03-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-life-lab-rna" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "life" - "primordial soup" - "RNA" - "salk institute" --- # Scientists Just Got Closer to Creating Artificial Life in the Lab ![Scientists have created an RNA-replicating molecule in the lab — and brought the world one step close to creating artificial life.]() *\Image: Salk Institute\* A [controversial theory]() posits that life began when RNA spontaneously began to replicate itself — and now researchers are claiming they've replicated part of that process in a lab. In [interviews with the *Washington Post*](), scientists say they've created an RNA molecule that made copies of other types of RNA, which gets its experts ever closer to creating the conditions for early Earth life in a lab. The Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientists worked from the theory that before there was DNA or proteins, RNA existed as the initial ingredient in the so-called "[primordial soup]()." As part of their research, *WaPo* reports, they created a lab-made RNA molecule that accurately copied others and resulted in a functioning enzyme. Now that the institute has done that, it's poised to study the earliest evolutionary stages of life in unprecedented ways. Gerald Joyce, the president of Salk who co-authored a [new paper]() about the research published in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*, told *WaPo* that although the researchers' lab-made molecule isn't yet self-replicating, the one they did create is a huge step to creating life in the lab. If RNA is created that *is* able to replicate itself, the Salk president said, "then it would be alive." "This is the road to how life can arise in a laboratory," Joyce said, "or, in principle, anywhere in the universe." As *WaPo* explains, RNA must make extremely close copies to the original for Darwinian evolution to occur. If anything goes wrong, things start to deteriorate fast, and like an old, wonky photocopy machine — or, in the meme world, a "[deep-fried]()" image that comes about from screenshotting ad infinitum — each subsequent copy gets fuzzier until it's unclear what the original source material was in the first place. "If the error rate is too high, you can’t maintain the \[genetic\] information," the Salk president explained. "It just blows up." That said, exact replication of RNA also doesn't work because it doesn't provide for the kinds of mutations that foster growth. To get just the right amount of deviation, Joyce and his team made an RNA that makes copies of what's known as "hammerhead RNA," which chops molecules. When the replicator molecule does its thing on the hammerhead RNA, each new generation, as *WaPo* reports, was also able to chop — and each subsequent generation gets better at replicating, too. This new threshold, as pharmaceutical science professor John Chaput of the University of California at Irvine puts it, is "monumental." "At first, I looked on it as a little bit jaw-dropping," Chaput, who was not involved in the research, told the newspaper. "It’s super-neat." It's exciting research — though, if Salk or its fellow travelers succeed in [making artificial life]() in the lab, sure to raise [urgent new ethical questions]() about synthetic lifeforms. **More on life:** [*Scientists Check Whether Space Telescope Could Detect Life on Earth*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()