Cell division is one of the most thoroughly studied processes in biology, yet many of its details remain mysterious. A century-old puzzle surrounding the “crown” of cell division – the kinetochore corona – has now been solved by Verena Cmentowski and Andrea Musacchio at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund (MPI). Their research shows that the corona assembles through two parallel routes, beginning with a small protein “seed” and expanding into a multifunctional complex that ensures accurate chromosome segregation – and with it, the faithful transmission of life from one generation to the next.