Is it life now?

The wires - including, um, linkurl:Wired;http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/biologists-on-t.html - are abuzz this week with talk of research by Jack Szostak, a Harvard researcher who is trying to create synthetic life. The attention stems from results he presented last week at an Origin of Life conference, as well as data he's published recently. Loyal readers will recall that linkurl:we wrote about;http://www.the-scientist.com/2006/1/1/30/1/ Szostak's work nearly two years ago,