Can we CREATE LIFE???

This is yesterday's news (literally), but I thought it was worth mention.

These guys simulated an entire lifeform (virus) on a digital computer. That is, they actually simulated every single atom in a virus, and a surrounding drop of water, of a super computer. Now here's why I think this is some real food for thought:

Say we define life in a way that makes it separate from its medium. That is, say we call ourselves the interactions and contained information in each of the particles that make us up, and we call our medium the physical particles that do make us up. This way, life is separate from the medium on that it exists.

In that case, what these guys did could actually be seen as creating life... right? Or no? I mean all the interactions and information are there, only the medium is different.

And say we think that we have souls, emotions, a conciousness, whatever we want to call it; then would a lifeform that's simulated on a digital computer also have these things? SOUL? EMOTIONS? CONCIOUSNESS? WHATEVER?

Another question, even more important: If turn off the computer or end the process on which the lifeform is being simulated, then are we killing something that was alive?

And the last, less important, question: Can we think of ourselves as simulations?