Imagine... we are in a warm shallow ocean somewhere on the primordial Earth.  The water salty, but it contains other minerals and organic compounds.  Some of these are strange and complex molecules, oddly shaped and with some unusual abilities.

The gentle motion of the water allows the chemicals to mix and interact.  Some of them settle out to bottom of the sea, where heat from volcanic vents speeds up the chemical reactions and supplies the local environment with the basic chemical elements to form increasing numbers of these organic molecules.

Here, something particularly unique is happening, though.  A tiny oily blob is floating along.  The oil forms a bag around a group of the highly complex chemicals.  They have been in this condition for some considerable time and now, resisting attempts by its physical environment to break it up.  Inside, a special spiral shaped molecule is making a copy of itself.  The oily cell has structure, it is reproducing, it is interacting with its environment and it is collecting other useful chemicals.  Perhaps it is the first living cell!

BACK TO MAIN MENU

© 1999 Satellite Events Enterprises Inc.