Polyester microdroplets, possible precursors to life, were formed from alpha-hydroxy acids (αHAs) in early Earth-like conditions even at low reaction volume, low reactant concentrations, and/or high ...

Protocells are the simplest, most primitive living systems, you can think of. However, creating an artificial protocell is far from simple. One of the challenges is to create the information strings ...

(Inside Science) – Primitive "protocells" like those that evolved into the first living cells can form in bubbles on mineral surfaces that were plentiful on the early Earth, according to new research.

Man-made balls of genetic material and membranes can pull off a decent impression of primitive cells. These squishy spheres known as “protocells” can accept chemical deliveries to sustain a division ...

Life on Earth is made up of cells. But there was a time, billions of years ago, where these complex molecular structures didn’t yet exist. Some scientists hypothesize that more primitive protocells ...

Researchers have discovered that simple “chemically active” droplets grow to the size of cells and spontaneously divide, suggesting they might have evolved into the first living cells. A collaboration ...

A mathematical model shows how a thermodynamic mechanism could have made protocells split in two. An elegant ballet of proteins enables modern cells to replicate themselves. During cell division, ...

Engineering living things to carry out new functions — that is, exploiting life as a technology — can be extraordinarily useful, but such work rarely strikes at the core of cellular function. Even if ...

Billions of years of evolution have made modern cells incredibly complex. Inside cells are small compartments called organelles that perform specific functions essential for the cell’s survival and ...

Billions of years of evolution have made modern cells incredibly complex. Inside cells are small compartments called organelles that perform specific functions essential for the cell’s survival and ...

A recent study investigates how polyester microdroplets, potential precursors to modern cells, could form under realistic early Earth conditions. Researchers pushed these conditions to the limits, ...

An elegant ballet of proteins enables modern cells to replicate themselves. During cell division, structural proteins and enzymes coordinate the duplication of DNA, the division of a cell’s ...