"According to NASA's Definition of Life, I'm Not Alive" - Why Nobody Can Define Life | Kate Adamala

Description

Nobody has ever built a cell from scratch - from purified molecules on a shelf - that can feed itself, grow, and divide. Until now. In this episode, Craig Smith sits down with Dr. Kate Adamala, a synthetic biologist and a professor of genetics at the University of Minnesota, whose lab just published a landmark paper on what she calls "spud cells", artificially constructed cells built entirely from defined, purified molecules that exhibit two lifelike behaviors simultaneously for the first time: genetically encoded feeding and genetically encoded division. Adamala’s broader goal isn't just to create artificial life for its own sake, it's to make biology a general-purpose technology, as reprogrammable as a computer, so that every molecule civilization currently extracts from oil can eventually be made by engineered biology instead. The conversation covers the deepest questions in the field: why nobody can define life (including NASA, whose definition technically excludes individual humans), why the biggest unsolved problem in synthetic biology is how to build a ribosome from scratch, and why mirror life - cells built from mirror-image molecules invisible to every immune system on earth - was dangerous enough that Adamala led a global research pause in 2024 that stopped all major mirror life initiatives worldwide. Craig also asks one of the most forward-looking questions in the episode: could AI now simulate billions of years of molecular evolution computationally, running the iterations that would take a primordial sea millions of years to complete? Adamala’s answer is yes, and her lab is already working on it. Key Topics Covered: ● What a spud cell is: a cell built entirely from purified molecules that can feed itself through genetically encoded mechanisms and trigger its own division, the first time both have been achieved simultaneously in a synthetic system ● Why nobody can define life, including NASA, whose definition of a self-sustaining system capable of Darwinian evolution technically excludes individual humans, and why Adamala thinks the boundary between life and non-life is a spectrum, not a line ● The biggest unsolved mystery in synthetic biology: ribogenesis, how to get a cell to build its own ribosomes, the molecular machines that make all proteins, without which no synthetic cell can truly close the loop ● Why mirror life - cells built from mirror-image molecules - could fly under the radar of every immune system on earth and replicate uncontrollably, and how Adamala led the global call to pause all mirror life research in 2024 ● Whether AI could simulate billions of years of molecular evolution computationally, and how Adamala’s lab is already working with collaborators to build that model ● Why making biology a general-purpose technology is the only path to replacing petrochemicals and keeping the planet habitable, and what spud cells, if they can be made to replicate robustly, could eventually produce At a moment when synthetic biology, AI, and biosecurity are converging faster than governance frameworks can keep up, this conversation offers one of the most scientifically grounded and intellectually honest accounts available of where the frontier of engineered life actually stands, from a researcher who is simultaneously advancing it and working to ensure it doesn't outrun the safety frameworks needed to contain it. Subscribe to Eye on A.I. for weekly conversations with the people building and deploying the future of AI. Craig Smith on X: https://x.com/craigss EYE On A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI Connect with Dr. Kate Adamala https://cbs.umn.edu/directory/kate-adamala Timestamps 00:00 What really defines life? 01:00 Meet the scientist behind Spud Cells 05:10 Can we engineer life from molecules? 10:48 How Spud Cells actually work 17:09 The biggest challenge in building synthetic life 23:11 Why life emerges from molecules 28:16 Why Spud Cells are just the beginning 36:12 The risks of mirror life and engineered biology 44:43 Can engineered life help save the planet?