  Lee Cronin is on a mission to create "inorganic life".
Recently named Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of
Glasgow, the 40-year-old chemist is trying to find molecules
that can assemble, replicate and evolve, but don't contain any
carbon or DNA. In experiments this year he says he's had some
"really tantalising hints of the very first molecular network
that spontaneously arose from inorganic stuff" and is now
waiting for the work to be peer reviewed.  His findings could
open the door to engineering new lifeforms and developing
molecular nanotechnologies. "I want to understand what chemistry
came before biology," he says. "Cells didn't just spontaneously
appear."  Cronin is building what he calls a chemical search-
engine, or "chemputer", to map all the chemical possibilities.
In his lab, a modified 3D printer alternates between printing
plastic vessels and squirting chemicals into them in sequence.
This can be used to 3D-print drugs -- with a set of chemical
inks printing medication on demand.  Cro