The DNA from a cell was synthetically replicated, inserted into a cousin cell and was able to reproduce. You then can wonder how much it really was "synthetic" and would this have implicated a lifeless cell. And would this then really be an artificial life form.
"The inventors call it the world's first synthetic cell, although this initial step is more a re-creation of existing life — changing one simple type of bacterium into another — than a built-from-scratch kind."
"It's partially synthetic, some said, because Venter's team had to stick the manmade genetic code inside a living cell from a related species. That cell was more than just a container; it also contained its own cytoplasm — the liquid part."
The magazine the Economist goes on to arrogantly state:
"It is now possible to conceive of a world in which new bacteria (and eventually, new animals and plants) are designed on a computer and then grown to order."
"That ability would prove mankind’s mastery over nature in a way more profound than even the detonation of the first atomic bomb..."
"It will be a while, yet, before lifeforms are routinely designed on a laptop. But this will come."
Read more > Mankind Challenges The Great Creator
where they write: "Man may proudly think that he can solve the worlds problems. He may arrogantly think that he can master nature. However, he will soon be gone and his brutish knowledge with him - for all flesh is grass."
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Levende cel geproduceerd door kunstmatig DNA