bio

Protocell

A simple membrane sac holding chemistry — not yet a living cell, but already carrying the properties that make life possible: it self-assembles from fatty acids, grows by drawing more molecules into its membrane, and divides when flow shears it. Compartmentation is not optional — without a boundary, anything useful diffuses away and no lineage can compete with another. This is one of the few steps of the origin problem reproduced in full in the laboratory.