Story perspectives

Biotic nonprofit launched to share evolving synthetic SpudCells

7/1/2026

Summary

Story summary

The team launched the nonprofit Biotic to openly share SpudCell designs and fund a decade-long collaborative effort.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota created synthetic SpudCells that feed, grow, reproduce and compete, that cannot build their own ribosomes and rely on external ribosomes for only five to ten generations, with the study under review.
After five generations of competition, a mutant SpudCell strain outcompeted the original, demonstrating rudimentary evolution.

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Story summary

The team launched the nonprofit Biotic to openly share SpudCell designs and fund a decade-long collaborative effort.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota created synthetic SpudCells that feed, grow, reproduce and compete, that cannot build their own ribosomes and rely on external ribosomes for only five to ten generations, with the study under review.
After five generations of competition, a mutant SpudCell strain outcompeted the original, demonstrating rudimentary evolution.