What is Life?

Unless cells can 1) grow and 2) divide, it doesn't have the essence for life to evolve.

This is how seeds blossom into flowers, how caterpillers become butterflies, and how babies become adults. 

To be truly alive - cells need genes.  Genes are the molecular identity that can pass from a cell to its copy.  All modern life does this with the double helix of DNA.  It is the most complex chemical molecule we know made up of 10s of  billions of atoms.  DNA controls every detail of every living thing.  The colour of our eyes, the shape of the leaves on a tree, the way even the most simple bacterium swims.  And every time a cell divides, it places a copy of its DNA in both cells of the new generation.