Kate Adamala on Synthetic Biology, Origins of Life, and Bioethics

What does it mean to be alive? Our origins are the horizon of our understanding, and as with the physical horizon, our approach brings us no closer. The more we learn, the more mysterious it all becomes. What if we’re asking the wrong questions? Maybe life did not begin at all, but rather coalesced piecemeal, a set of properties contingent and convergent, plural, more than once? Maybe the origin of life is happening right now, just over the horizon, forming something new anew. Let’s get into the weeds and see if we can find a continuity between biology and physics.Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I’m your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we’ll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.This week we speak with Kate Adamala, synthetic biologist and professor at the University of Minnesota, about her research to produce synthetic minimal cells that are not technically alive but can perform myriad biological processes. Along the way the distant past and future meet. Can we build life? Or can we grow machines?Be sure to check out our extensive show notes with links to all our references at complexity.simplecast.com. Note that applications are now open for our Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships! If you value our research and communication efforts, please subscribe, rate and review us at Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and consider making a donation — or finding other ways to engage with us — at santafe.edu/engage.Thank you for listening!Join our Facebook discussion group to meet like minds and talk about each episode.Podcast theme music by Mitch Mignano.Follow us on social media:Twitter • YouTube • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedInReferenced in this episode:Nonenzymatic Template-Directed RNA Synthesis Inside Model ProtocellsEngineering genetic circuit interactions within and between synthetic minimal cellsCompetition between model protocells driven by an encapsulated catalystSynthetic cells in biomedical applicationsParasites, infections and inoculation in synthetic minimal cellsBuild-a-Cell: Engineering a Synthetic Cell CommunityThe Andromeda Strain and the Meaning of Life: Monolith MonologuesSara Walker on The Physics of Life and Planet-Scale IntelligenceWhat Technology Wants by Kevin KellyMatthew Jackson on Social & Economic NetworksScott PageMind Children by Hans MoravecThe Multiple Paths to Multiple LifeMichael LachmannTerraforming the Biosphere by Ricard SoléScaling Laws & Social Networks in The Time of COVID-19 with Geoffrey West (Part 1)Red Queen