/sci/ - Science & Math

Well, I think it's a pretty important clue that cellular membranes are comprised of two layers of lipids (fat molecules) which are hydrophilic on one end and hydrophobic on the other end, and they form the double-layer memberane by themselves because the water-avoiding ends naturally point inward and the water attracting ends point outward into the water.

These bi-lipid membranes form by themselves around bubbles in any solution that has enough lipid molecules in it. And DNA that replicates inside such a membrane is undisturbed during that delicate process by outside reactions, so DNA + membrane proliferates while bare DNA in the same sample is eventually crowded out.

It's still a young field that doesn't have all the answers yet, but everything we know so far points to the same conclusion, and it's not magic.

>>4770474

If you replace "rocks" with "fat molecules" and replace "better for some reason" with "chemically attracted to water on one end and air on the other and therefore inclined to collect around bubbles in the form of a two layered film", that would be accurate.

Actually the simplest form of life is something we've seen form by itself many times, there's just a lot of bitter debate as to whether it's appropriately classified as life:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8700225

Appreciation of the incredibleness of the world/universe thread.

I'll start:

This proto-cell is your ancestor.