{"id":333812,"date":"2026-07-01T23:21:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T23:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/breaking-news\/spudcell-scientists-made-a-cell-with-most-of-the-hallmarks-of-life-heres-what-to-know.html"},"modified":"2026-07-01T23:21:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T23:21:36","slug":"spudcell-scientists-made-a-cell-with-most-of-the-hallmarks-of-life-heres-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/breaking-news\/spudcell-scientists-made-a-cell-with-most-of-the-hallmarks-of-life-heres-what-to-know.html","title":{"rendered":"SpudCell: Scientists Made a Cell With Most of the Hallmarks of Life. Here\u2019s What to Know."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"css-9zl7ef expuye50\" id=\"link-4fbfa2ed\">What is SpudCell?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-140ip4z e1me5xab0\"><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">SpudCell<\/a> is a synthetic cell made by scientists at the University of Minnesota. It was created in a lab from lifeless chemicals but can perform most of the same functions as living cells. It eats, grows and reproduces, passing along its genetic material to future generations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-140ip4z e1me5xab0\">Although it\u2019s not the first synthetic cell ever created, SpudCell is the first to complete a full life cycle \u2014 from birth to division into next-generation cells \u2014 after having been created from the \u201cbottom up\u201d using laboratory chemicals. It\u2019s a pared down version of a living cell structure, revealing the basic genetic and structural components necessary for the functions of life.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-9zl7ef expuye50\" id=\"link-1c053577\">So, is it alive?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-140ip4z e1me5xab0\">No. Or maybe! The researchers behind SpudCell do not claim to have created life, though they note that there is \u201cno single agreed definition\u201d of life and that their cell-like system acts similarly to living cells.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-140ip4z e1me5xab0\">\u201cSpudCell performs the behaviors often used to tell the living from the inert \u2014 it feeds, grows, replicates its genome, divides and undergoes selection \u2014 yet it is far simpler than any natural cell and was assembled, part by part, by hand,\u201d the project researchers wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Article source: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/01\/science\/spud-cell-what-to-know.html<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is SpudCell? SpudCell is a synthetic cell made by scientists at the University of Minnesota. It was created in a lab from lifeless chemicals but can perform most of the same functions as living cells. It eats, grows and reproduces, passing along its genetic material to future generations. Although it\u2019s not the first synthetic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-333812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}