Glasgow chemist Lee Cronin is attempting to build living molecular architectures from inorganic building blocks. The premise of Cronin's work rests on the notion that evolution is present in inorganic forms as much as they are in organic forms. His method involves creating complex chemical reactions using "inorganic cells" and keeping them from decomposing for increasingly sustained periods of times (using salt for instance), with the hope that they will one day begin replicating. According to Cronin, the implications of such an event would have a profound impact on our view of the universe. "If I am right, then the universe is wired to become alive through evolution and this is a general property of all matter in the universe."
Via The Guardian.
