A team of biochemists at the University of California, San Diego, working with a group of biochemical engineers from the University of California, Los Angeles, has found that the development of short ...

This video starts with a simple question — does life really need DNA? — and then turns it into something much bigger. From ...

Researchers have prepared synthetic protocells coated in red blood cell fragments for use as nitric oxide generating bio-bots within blood vessels. An international team comprising researchers from ...

A simple mechanism could underlie the growth and self-replication of protocells - putative ancestors of modern living cells - suggests a study publishing September 3 in Biophysical Journal. Protocells ...

How life arose from non-living chemicals more than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth is a still-unanswered question. The RNA world hypothesis assumes that RNA biomolecules were key players during this ...

Unfortunately for scientists, there is no videotape of the universe’s history that they can rewind to watch how life got started on Earth. Instead, they must recapitulate life in the lab to find ...

Synthetic protocells can be made to move toward and away from chemical signals, an important step for the development of new drug-delivery systems that could target specific locations in the body. By ...

Researchers have successfully assembled enzyme-powered artificial cells that can float or sink depending on their internal chemical activity. The work provides a new approach to designing complex life ...

An international team comprising researchers from the University of Bristol, and Hunan and Central South Universities in China, have prepared biocompatible protocells that generate nitric oxide gas – ...

Man-made balls of genetic material and membranes can pull off a decent impression of primitive cells. These squishy spheres known as “protocells” can accept chemical deliveries to sustain a division ...