Life at the Speed of Light summary

Since the nineteenth century, the scientific community has debated the concept of artificial life and the potential for its creation.  

The debate began in earnest in 1828, when German chemist Friedrich Wöhler challenged the idea that organic and inorganic materials differed in some fundamental way. To show that this notion was false, he chemically synthesized urea, the primary component of urine.

Have you ever wondered how DNA – even from different organisms – is combined? You can’t exactly throw genes in a test tube and shake them up, but scientists have come up with a surprisingly straightforward way to slip genetic code into foreign DNA.

Scientists discovered that by using certain proteins, one can essentially “cut” and then “paste” together bits of DNA. These unique proteins, called restriction enzymes, were first discovered in bacteria in the 1960s.

Reading and sequencing a DNA strand is far from simple, but the ambitions of geneticists were brought closer to reality with each advance in computer technology.

In fact, it was the introduction of automated DNA-sequencing machines that propelled the science of genomics into a whole new phase.

The author’s team then embarked on a journey to synthetically produce a complete chromosome, based solely on computer code.

But they first needed to develop some new procedures. Eventually, they discovered a promising method for achieving their goal.

The team achieved an astonishing feat – they’d synthesized a virus, confirming that synthetic DNA could be activated.

But viruses aren’t really “alive,” but are simply genetic information that’s coated in a protein. So would it be possible then to synthesize a much more complicated genome, for example from a “living” bacterium?

Despite its wonders, the synthesizing of a living organism’s genome just wasn’t enough for the scientific community.

Skeptics could deride chemically created DNA as merely a synthetic molecule – nothing special. The real test was in proving that the team’s synthetic DNA was actually viable, and to prove this it would have to be put into the body of a cell to become the cell’s new genetic information.

Using the polyethylene glycol method, the team succeeded in their initial transplantation tests. They then prepared for one final sequencing, synthesis and transplantation of the M. mycoides genome.

However, things didn’t go as planned. With DNA sequencing, even the smallest errors can be fatal.

The author’s goal in creating the first instance of synthetic life was to prove that DNA is the software and basis for all life. In other words, he wanted to put to rest all arguments for vitalism.

However, getting people to agree on what constitutes “life” is no easy task.

You are one of the first colonists on Mars. Yet the machine that regulates your shelter’s atmospheric pressure springs a leak, exposing you to an alien germ. You need an antibiotic, but only a lab on earth can help you. So what are your options?

Sure, there are no Mars colonies – yet. But earth-based scientists are already thinking about situations like these and coming up with solutions for the challenges of a life among the stars.