Protocell
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A protocell is a self-organized, membrane-bound or membraneless compartment that concentrates biomolecules, proposed as a rudimentary precursor to cells during the origin of life. It is a minimal unit
Surfactant molecules arranged on an air–water interface
Darwin's finches by Gould
Tree of life by Haeckel
Earliest known life forms
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The earliest known life forms on Earth may be as old as 4.1 billion years according to biologically fractionated graphite inside a single zircon grain in the Jack Hills range of Australia. The earlies
Protocell
…Artificial cell – Engineered component of a biological cell Earliest known life forms Emergence – Unpredictable phenomenon in complex systems…
Evidence of possibly the oldest forms of life on Earth has been found in hydrothermal vent precipitates.
Zircons in metaconglomerates from the Jack Hills in Australia show carbon isotopic evidence for early life.
Stromatolite fossil showing convex-up structures.
Archaea (prokaryotic microbes) were first found in extreme environments, such as hydrothermal vents.