tl;dr: Researchers led by Kate Adamala at the University of Minnesota assembled a synthetic cell from nonliving biological components that can grow, replicate its DNA, and divide—achieving cell division by using membrane-bending proteins instead of a cytoskeleton. The "spudcells" still require external supplies of ribosomes and nutrients and lack true natural selection (mutations must be introduced synthetically), so they aren't self-sustaining life, but the work represents the furthest progress yet toward building a living cell from scratch. The team is releasing methods via a new nonprofit, Biotic.