Origin of life emerged from cell membrane bioenergetics

A coherent pathway which starts from no more than rocks, water and carbon dioxide and leads to the emergence of the strange bio-energetic properties of living cells, has been traced for the first time in a major hypothesis ...

Building protocells from inorganic nanoparticles

(Phys.org) —Researchers at the University of Bristol have led a new enquiry into how extremely small particles of silica (sand) can be used to design and construct artificial protocells in the laboratory. The work is described ...

Living buildings could mop up carbon dioxide

(PhysOrg.com) -- Architecture could help us tackle climate change, if we start to design our buildings with 'living' materials, according to Dr Rachel Armstrong, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture.

Protocells formed in salt solution, researchers find

The first cell may have originated in a salty soup in which large biomolecules cluster spontaneously to form a protocell, chemists at Radboud University Nijmegen discovered. PNAS published their work on July 1.