• Question: How are cells made? I mean, how was the first cell made? How did it all start? Does it have to do with the Big Bang?

    Asked by 273cesk28 to Natasha, Ester on 7 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ester Gil Vazquez

      Ester Gil Vazquez answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      This is a great question. If you refer to the very first cell from which all the other cells came from, it did exist and it has a name: LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor). We think it may have looked like a current bacteria (a very simple one), although we don’t know much about it (not even if it had DNA or only RNA!), but all the actual forms of life evolved from it.

      And how did this first cell appear? Just imagine having a random bunch of things (RNA, proteins, water…) that if arranged in a particular way would conform a cell. This mix already existed but it probably needed millions of years to, by chance, arrange into a cell. We are not sure how this happened but there are many theories involving electric sparks, deep-sea vents and even life coming from outer space!

    • Photo: Natasha Myhill

      Natasha Myhill answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      Yeah, I have no idea to be honest! I think that it would have to have happened either with the big bang (lots of different molecules needed for a basic cell got pushed together), or it happened a bit afterwards. When our planet was first made, it would have looked very different from today and probably wouldnt have been able to support life, but as it developed, that is when life is thought to have began. Sorry, thats the best I can do on that question!

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