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"Nowhere in nature" is pretty rich, considering that it happens every time we use dish soap to scrub grease off of pots and pans. Protocells [0] likely formed f
by Kednicma 6y ago
"Nowhere in nature" is pretty rich, considering that it happens every time we use dish soap to scrub grease off of pots and pans. Protocells [0] likely formed from basic fats which formed along the lines mentioned in the original article. Hydrophilia, hydrophobia, and lipophilia do the rest, coercing clumps of fat to form into little walled-off regions where chemistry becomes isolated.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocell
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRzxTzKIsp8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRzxTzKIsp8
- ncmncm 6y agoDish soap is natural?
- Kednicma 6y agoYes, soap arose from mixing ash into animal fats; after a meal cooked over a fire, we would scoop up alkaline ash and pour it into the pot with the rendered fat, creating a natural soap. Similarly, in the beginning, we had hot oceans where monoxides, dioxides, and carbon were pressed against volcanic rock, creating chains of fatty acid. When those fatty acids broke off from the rock and floated in the water, their ability to repel water altered the chemistry around them, leading to protocells. For more details, watch the video I linked. It's not long and it should be accessible for all ages. It's got great animations, too.
- ncmncm 6y agoStill: it is one thing for vesicles to form spontaneously, and entirely another for a cell to produce one de novo: Possible in principle, but (apparently!) never favored by natural selection.