Associate professor Kate Adamala has been busy. Her lab at the University of Minnesota takes chemicals and dead, isolated biological parts — like DNA, membranes, ribosomes — and puts them together into “synthetic” cells to see if they will come to life…or at least act alive. This summer, Adamala’s lab had a tremendous breakthrough. They made synthetic cells that can feed, grow, and divide. She decided to name them SpudCells, and says that they prove that one day building a fully living lab-made cell will be possible.  Adamala’s dream, and the dream of other synthetic biologists like...