One step closer to proving abiogenesis? Scientists create "Near-Living Crystal"

[Angrboda]

Fascinating. It reminds me of a reference in The Blind Watchmaker to some speculative notions about silicates forming an early stage of life. It's an interesting philosophical exercise to try to pin down exactly what properties one means when one uses the shorthand of 'life'. There was a thread here which asked the question of what is different about a rock and a live animal. My first attempt at answering that question crashed and burned. This is also rather eerily reminiscent of Conway's Game of Life. I find it and other simulations interesting in the abstract, but I never acquired the practical, hands-on interest in it that my peers developed (and me a math egghead, too).