Can we create life in a lab?

As always, it depends crucially on the definitions, what is “life”, and what “create” means. If we 1) define life as a very specifically organized form of matter, which emerges if the right molecules come together under the right environmental conditions, and if 2) “create” means that we are just arranging the right ingredients by physical, chemical and biological methods, then yes, I am convinced that is not only possible, but also that we will accomplish it in the next 10-20 years. However, what these molecules and conditions will be, how the system will look like, and whether it will change our overall conception of life on earth is far from obvious. In my opinion, it has the potential for a fourth insult to humanity, as described by Freud. That we have not only descended from apes, but from earth and skies. Personally, I have no problem with this, but find it incredibly fascinating to tease out the potential of molecules to self-assemble and self-organize in physical-chemically well described ways. Our lab has in the past years made remarkable discoveries with regard to the emergence of new functionality in cell-like systems. It looks like we are nearing in on answering the question…