Let's Make a Microbe!
- By Susan K. Lewis
- Posted 10.01.05
- NOVA scienceNOW
What key traits distinguish a living organism from something not alive? What defines life itself? Get a sense of the answers by building your own animated microbe, and learn about research attempting to create artificial life in the laboratory.
Find out what separates life from nonlife, and glimpse how scientists are exploring the boundary.
Credits
Images
- (all vesicles)
- Courtesy David Deamer/Duke University
- (sunlit plant)
- Courtesy iStockphoto.org
- (hand with bacteria)
- © Corbis Images
Related Links
-
Artificial Life
Are scientists on the verge of making living things from little more than dust?
-
How Did Life Begin?
Harvard's Andrew Knoll discusses the deeply mysterious jump long ago from non-living to living.
-
Artificial Life: Expert Q&A
Biochemist David Deamer answers questions about early life on Earth and efforts to make artificial life.
-
Francis Collins on Making Life
The head of the Human Genome Project isn't convinced that synthetic creatures are just around the corner.
You need the Flash Player plug-in to view this content.