Scientists have created E. coli bacteria using a 100% man-made genome. While the bacteria is “unusually shaped and reproducing slowly”, scientists say it’s alive and is four million base pairs long, four times larger than the synthetic genome built 9 years ago. The study was conducted so that scientists could better understand how living things code genetic information. Researchers believe this is possibly a first step in creating organisms that produce and deliver medicine and may also answer questions about the origin of the genetic code and how and why it’s constructed in such a “redundant” way. New York Times