Do cells have goals? | with Melanie Challenger, Nick Lane & Philip Ball

Researchers led by Kate Admala constructed synthetic cell-like entities dubbed spud cells using artificial lipid membranes and a minimal synthetic genome of 36 genes. These constructs successfully replicated their genomes, divided, and exhibited primitive competition and natural selection. However, Philip Ball notes they are not truly alive because they remain entirely dependent on a rich external chemical soup, lack the ability to build their own ribosomes, and quickly run out of steam. Researchers emphasize these constructs simulate life-like traits but lack metabolic autonomy.

Nick Lane explains that cellular respiration across bacterial and mitochondrial membranes generates an electrical potential of 150 to 200 millivolts. Because these phospholipid membranes are only five nanometers thick, the resulting electrical field strength reaches approximately 30 million volts per meter. Lane notes this field intensity is equivalent to a bolt of lightning, operating continuously across millions of square meters of internal membrane surface within the human body.

Toshiyuki Nakagaki demonstrated that the brainless slime mold Physarum polycephalum can optimize nutrient networks with remarkable efficiency. When researchers placed food oats in the configuration of Tokyo's urban centers and subway stations, the slime mold spontaneously reconfigured its mass within 24 hours to match the optimal transport network designed by human engineers. This experiment challenges traditional assumptions that complex problem-solving and adaptive behavior require a centralized nervous system.

Philip Ball and other modern biologists argue that viewing the genome as a rigid computer program dictating every organismal trait is an outdated relic of early digital computing. Instead of information flowing strictly bottom-up from genes to traits, living systems rely on bidirectional information exchange where environmental cues regulate gene expression. Ball suggests treating DNA not as a blueprint or program, but as a library of molecular resources utilized by living cells.

Mike Levin and his research team discovered that isolated clumps of frog cells can self-assemble into novel multicellular structures called xenobots when removed from their normal developmental context. Unlike standard frog embryos, these manufactured aggregates use hair-like cilia to swim through water, displaying autonomous, goal-directed behavior without a traditional frog morphology. This phenomenon illustrates that animal genomes can support multiple distinct developmental pathways depending on cellular context.

Philip Ball highlights the ethical dilemmas arising from the creation of human brain organoids derived from skin cell cultures. As these neural clusters develop complex functional connections resembling embryonic brains, researchers face profound questions regarding their potential for sentience and subjective experience. Ball warns that if laboratory neural tissue approaches conscious awareness, science must establish clear moral obligations toward these synthetic constructs. Sentience in current brain organoids remains speculative and unproven.