LONG STORY SHORT: Cell Membranes Don’t ‘Just Happen’ (And You Die If They Don’t Happen Somehow)
Ever hear of “homeostasis?” If you aren’t really into cellular biology, odds are you’re not familiar with that term. What it means is the ability of an organism to maintain the proper internal balance between obtaining what it must have for life and getting rid of the stuff that would kill it.
Screenshot from YouTube.
Now, did you know every cell in your body has an outer covering called a “Membrane” that is absolutely essential to keeping cells alive? Here’s how the Discovery Institute’s (DI) latest edition of Evolution News and Science Today (EN) explains it:
“Cell membranes are essential for life because they actively maintain homeostasis, providing a consistent environment inside the cell despite varying conditions outside. To accomplish this, they must be actively and selectively permeable — passing essential nutrients into the cell and pushing waste products out.”
Proto-cells, no more real than Unicorns or Leprechauns?
What follows in EN is a somewhat technical explanation of the hows and whys of cell membrane creation and functioning.
But regular folks like us are in luck because DI has also created a superb animated video that puts all of this stuff in fascinating layman’s terms.
At just over 11 minutes, it’s a little longer than usual for HillFaith, but the animation and voice-over in the video are extremely well done, modestly funny at suitable points, and tremendously informative. You are all but guaranteed to learn a lot and enjoy the process to boot!