Today I Learned Science

Today I Learned Science

Scientists Got $4 Million to Build a Doomsday Weapon (And Then Stopped)

The Who, What, When, Why, Where, and How of Mirror Life

Dr. Harini Bhat's avatar
Dr. Harini Bhat
Oct 28, 2025
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In 2019, Dr. Kate Adamala received some very good news: she and three other researchers were awarded a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

The goal? Create something that had never existed in the history of life on Earth.

Something that could potentially revolutionize medicine, solve antibiotic resistance and maybe even unlock the fundamental secrets of how life began on Earth.

Then, slowly, over months of conversations with other scientists, Dr. Adamala realized something unsettling to say the least, which made her stop her research.

She was building a potential extinction-level threat called a mirror cell.

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