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6.30.2005 What We're Thinking About

Robert Krulwich and Jonah Lehrer

Welcome to NOVA scienceNOW's weekly Web series called "What We're Thinking About."

On this page, you'll find our editors considering promising story ideas, arguing with each other, criticizing. Normally we do this in private among ourselves. But we decided to let you in, hoping your feedback will give our bad ideas the boot and make our good ideas better.

"What We're Thinking About" for the next few weeks concerns a worldwide competition to create artificial life, a subject so provocative that, if it were a movie, you might call it "Meet the Frankensteins."

Robert Krulwich, host and executive editor of NOVA scienceNOW, sits down with Jonah Lehrer, contributing editor and recent Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. We've divided their conversation into three parts, roughly reflecting the three approaches taken by different teams of scientists.

Click and enjoy, and if something piques your interest, or makes you wonder, or if you think we've gotten something wrong, let us know.


The Life Cocktail
 

The Life Cocktail
1. Pour ingredients
2. Shake

Keep it Simple
 

Keep it Simple
Minimal life

Use Old Parts
 

Use Old Parts
Classic Frankenstein

What Is Life?
 

What Is Life?
The search for the essence

Who Is The Cop?
 

Who Is The Cop?
An enzyme...




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