Life’s Housing May Come from Space

Gimme shelter! The cell-like envelopes in which life on Earth arose and evolved may literally have dropped from the sky, a new study suggests.

CELLULAR DROPS These droplets—residues of organic ices exposed to ultraviolet light and then mixed with water—have structures similar to cell membranes. Dworkin et al./PNAS

Scientists exploring the origins of life have focused on two ingredients—proteins, the workhouse molecules that underlie life’s activities, and DNA, the molecule that carries the blueprint for future generations.