July 30, 2026
Real News, Told Simply.™
A monkey with orange lips that sounds like a croaking frog? That’s “Likweli”, a new species of monkey recently identified in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Scientists have only recently learned about the monkey, but they are already worried that it might be endangered.
Scientists at the University of Minnesota have created an artificial cell that can eat, grow, and split to create new cells. The research has raised questions about what “life” really is, and what scientists might be able to do with tools like this in the future.
Cells are the tiny building blocks of all living things. To see most cells, you would need a microscope. Even so, the inner workings of cells can be incredibly complicated. There are many different types of cells, and they perform many different kinds of jobs.
There’s a lot that scientists still don’t understand about cells. Understanding cells is important because it could lead to many new discoveries, including ways to improve human health.
For decades, scientists have worked on “synthetic biology” – ways of re-designing living things to make them more useful. For example, scientists have used cells of a bacteria to create insulin – a medicine used by people with diabetes.
But synthetic biology has focused mainly on changing existing cells, not creating brand new ones.
Until now.
The new cell, called “SpudCell”, didn’t come from a living cell. Instead, scientists built it from scratch in a lab. But they didn’t just stir chemicals together. They carefully combined many different smaller systems, like pieces of a machine, to create a functioning cell. “I know the full ingredient list,” says Kate Adamala, the lead scientist.
It’s important to note that SpudCells aren’t alive. But their behavior is similar to real, living cells. SpudCells have DNA. They can eat, and as they eat, they grow. After they have grown too large, they split, creating two cells, instead of one. Much of the DNA is passed on to the new cells. This process can repeat up to five times.
But there are some important differences. SpudCells can only survive if they’re fed and given certain ingredients to grow. Actual cells in the real world find their own food, build their own structures, and keep growing and dividing. And they’re much better at passing on their DNA. Real cells aren’t limited to splitting just five times.
The researchers behind the work hope that other scientists will use SpudCell to learn more about how cells work. SpudCell is far smaller and simpler than a real living cell. That makes it easier to study and change. The work could help scientists get a better idea of how life first began.
Many people are excited about what SpudCell might mean for the future of medicine. If scientists can create and change cells, they may be able to create new medicines, foods, or ways to tackle the climate crisis.
But some people worry that such technology could be misused. For decades, people have been concerned about the possibility of someone using biology to create weapons. But since SpudCells can’t survive outside a lab, anyone with evil plans would probably choose another tool.
SpudCell has gotten many people thinking about what “life” really is. As other scientists review the team’s work, and build upon it, it’s likely that many more questions will come up.
Did You Know…?
If you’d like to learn a little bit more about artificial cells and synthetic biology, this page from Dr. Adamala’s lab has a short video which may be helpful.
www.nytimes.com
www.theguardian.com
www.cnn.com
arstechnica.com
www.newscientist.com
www.smithsonianmag.com
twin-cities.umn.edu
www.biotic.org
As of 2023, NFK is testing the use of an LLM to help collate information and create early drafts of some articles. Final articles are rewritten, fact-checked, and edited.
Scientists have long known that there are huge networks of fungi underground. Now, researchers have created a map of these fungal webs and how they are spread around the world. Their study reveals that if the threads of these fungi were laid out in a line, they could stretch to the sun about 730 million times.
In January of 2022, a massive volcano erupted under the ocean near Tonga. The eruption released huge amounts of methane – a dangerous greenhouse gas. Now scientists have discovered that the volcano’s ash cloud also removed a lot of methane. The discovery could lead to new ways to fight global warming.
Scientists studying a Neanderthal tooth found in a Russian cave believe it may be the world’s oldest example of dental work. The tooth, which is about 59,000 years old, shows signs of having been drilled to try to fix a cavity. The discovery suggests that Neanderthals were more advanced than scientists thought.
On April 19, about 12,000 runners took part in a half marathon in Beijing, China. On a separate track, beside the human runners, over 300 humanoid (human-like) robots tackled the same challenge. In a similar race last year, humans won easily. This year, the robots not only won, they beat the human world record.
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