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A digital "primordial soup" with no rules or direction can lead to the emergence of self-replicating artificial life forms. Plus: the secret ingredient shaping your microbiome and your health.

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Virtual life 

A self-replicating form of artificial life has arisen from a digital “primordial soup” of random data, despite a lack of explicit rules or goals to encourage such behaviour. While the process of evolution is well understood, little is known about how inert molecules first came together to form life. To investigate how humble beginnings can lead to complex ends, Ben Laurie at Google and his colleagues designed experiments where tens of thousands of separate pieces of computer code randomly mingled, combined and executed their instructions over millions of generations. Researchers believe it is possible that more sophisticated versions of the experiment could yield more advanced digital organisms, and if they did, the findings could shed light on the mechanisms behind the emergence of biological life on Earth. Read more

Butter from CO2

A new type of dietary fat that doesn’t require animals or large areas of land to produce could soon be on sale in the US as researchers and entrepreneurs race to develop the first “synthetic” foodstuffs. US start-up Savor has created a “butter” product made from carbon, in a thermochemical system closer to fossil fuel processing than food production. “There is no biology involved in our specific process,” says Kathleen Alexander from the firm. Instead, its butter is derived from the carbon in coal, methane or carbon dioxide. Synthetic fats could revolutionise the food system by providing calories while freeing up land for conservation and carbon storage, says Alexander. Read more

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More headlines

• Two legs good: The question of when our ancestors first evolved bipedal walking is a serious bone of contention, with a controversial set of fossils inspiring a fierce debate that has been running for 20 years. 

   

• Cultured meat: Lab-grown steaks could get a flavour boost thanks to aromatic chemicals that activate when cooked.

   

• Perfect timing: Cosmic ray particles capable of penetrating even the densest buildings or underground structures can provide an essentially foolproof system for synchronising high-frequency trades in the world’s international stock exchanges.

   

• Cooling turf: An artificial sports pitch that absorbs rainwater and lets it evaporate on hot days stays much cooler than ordinary fake grass.

Sam Falconer

Earlier this year, a groundbreaking study revealed that our response to stress might be influenced by microbes in our gut. Not bacteria, however, but another crucial facet of the microbiome, whose importance is only now being recognised: viruses. It turns out that we are riddled with viruses. Not the ones that make us unwell, but trillions of stowaways that play a crucial role in cultivating a healthy microbiome. Far from sinister, the influence of this “virome” can be felt from our blood to our brain. The hope is that tweaking it could one day provide new ways of treating various ailments, from inflammatory bowel disease and obesity to anxiety. Read more

Competition closes this Sunday

New Scientist and The LEGO Group's free social impact program, Build the Change, have teamed up to launch a competition to help gibbons survive in their fragmented forests. The challenge is to design a solution to help gibbons navigate the threats they are facing.

Open to UK residents aged 11-14

Jodi Rowley at the Australian Museum in Sydney on why a magnificent tree frog with blue skin thanks to a genetic mutation is so unusual.

On Dead Planets Society this week, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte ponder what would happen if you put a primordial black hole inside various objects. Find it in all the usual podcast places.

Thanks for reading.

Sam Wong

Assistant news editor, New Scientist
Email me at [email protected]

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