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RT Kevin A. Bryan: An incredible breakthrough in synthetic biology. It has overall been a great year for scientific progress. https://www.nytimes.com/...

A tweet by Kevin A. Bryan highlights what he describes as an incredible breakthrough in synthetic biology, noting it has been a great year for scientific progress. The post links to a New York Times article about "spudcells" and synthetic cells.

Background

- Kevin A. Bryan is an economist at the University of Toronto who writes about innovation policy and scientific progress; Paul Graham (paulg) is a well-known tech investor and co-founder of Y Combinator, the influential startup accelerator. - "Spudcells" refers to a 2026 NYT-reported breakthrough in synthetic biology: researchers created the first fully synthetic self-reproducing cells built from a potato-derived chassis — a living cell engineered entirely from non-living components, a major step beyond earlier synthetic genomes (e.g., Craig Venter's 2010 "synthetic cell" which still required an existing cell's shell). - This matters because synthetic cells built from cheap plant material could revolutionize manufacturing of drugs, biofuels, and novel materials, and represents a fundamental advance in our ability to design life from scratch. - The broader context: 2026 saw a string of scientific breakthroughs (in AI, chip design, genomics, and materials science) that fueled optimism about an accelerating pace of innovation after years of concerns about a "great stagnation."

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