The world\u2019s first \u201cliving robots\u201d are now capable of something that\u2019s essential to the survival of any species: reproduction.<\/p>\n
Known as Xenobots, the organisms use an entirely novel form of biological self-replication, according to new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n
The study authors discovered that the machines can gather hundreds of single cells and assemble them into \u201cbaby\u201d Xenobots. After a few days, the offspring evolve to look and move just like their parents.<\/span><\/p>\n The progeny can then repeat the process over and over again.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople have thought for quite a long time that we\u2019ve worked out all the ways that life can reproduce or replicate,\u201d said study co-author Douglas Blackiston, the senior scientist at Tufts University, in a statement. \u201cBut this is something that\u2019s never been observed before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n