Regina G. Barber

And, like, one's already built versus, like, if you just go to, like, an open area.

Or, like, in Minecraft where you go into somebody's, like, realm already that already exists versus, like, going to your realm where you can build something.

Kate's like, yes.

So where is the field right now?

Like how close are you to creating synthetic life?

Yeah.

Last question.

There are many scientists that are working towards this goal, including both of you.

Why is building a cell from scratch so important?

Kate, Drew, thank you so much for talking to me today about synthetic cells.

I learned a lot.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

It was a pleasure.

Shortwavers, thank you for listening.

And if you want to help us out, follow us on the NPR app or whatever other podcasting app you use.

This episode was produced by Burleigh McCoy, edited by our showrunner Rebecca Ramirez, and fact-checked by Tyler Jones.

The audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

Beth Donovan is our senior director, and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy.

I'm Regina Barber.