Researchers create 'SpudCells'—synthetic cells that grow, replicate, divide, and undergo selection

This milestone represents significant progress toward building living systems from chemical components, with implications for understanding life's minimal requirements and origins. The open-source design enables further development by the research community. Potential applications span medicine, biofuel production, and biosynthesis, while the work reveals insights into minimal genome function and cellular self-organization—fundamental questions at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and engineering.