Self-reproducing Synthetic Cells

“Researchers at Harvard University have created polymer-based, cell-like structures capable of self-reproducing—one of the most fundamental characteristics of life. The system does not use any of the carbon-based molecules that life on Earth relies on. The researchers say their work hints at ways that life, though not life as we know it, might exist (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2025, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2412514122).”

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This image of a prominence above the solar surface is a snapshot of a 4-minute time-lapse movie that reveals its rapid, fine, and turbulent restructuring with unprecedented detail. The sun’s fluffy-looking surface is covered by “spicules,” short-lived plasma jets, whose creation is still subject of scientific debate. The streaks on the right of this image are coronal rain falling down onto the sun’s surface.

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