First Evidence of Cell Membrane Molecules in Space

All cells on Earth are made of phospholipid membranes. Now astronomers have found the component molecules in interstellar space.

cell membrane molecules - shutterstock 291666776
(Credit: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock)

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The origin of life is one the great unanswered questions in science. One piece of this puzzle is that life started on Earth 4.5 billion years ago, just a few hundred million years after the formation of the Solar System, and involved numerous critical molecular components. How did all these components come to be available so quickly?

One potential explanation is that the Earth was seeded from space with the building blocks for life. The idea is that space is filled with clouds of gas and dust that contain all the organic molecules necessary for life.

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