Mimicking Simple Life Without Biochemistry

Explore groundbreaking research on creating artificial life-like systems in this hour-long lecture from the Santa Fe Institute. Delve into Juan Perez-Mercader's experimental work at Harvard University, demonstrating the autonomous synthesis of self-organized micron and submicron-sized vesicles exhibiting emergent, life-like properties. Discover how these chemical systems process information, metabolize, self-reproduce, and evolve without using biochemistry. Examine the fascinating phenomena of periodic growth, partial collapse, autonomous replication, and phototaxis observed in these artificial vesicles. Gain insights into artificial biology, prebiotic membrane formation, and the potential origins of life on early Earth through this cutting-edge research utilizing photo PISA and non-biochemical oscillator reactions.