Protocell

So, you know how living things like plants and animals are made up of tiny little things called cells? Well, a protocell is kind of like a baby cell. It's something that scientists think might have been one of the very first things to exist when life first started on Earth a really, really long time ago.

A protocell is made up of all sorts of little organic molecules, like fatty acids and amino acids. These molecules stick together in a special way to form a kind of shell, and inside that shell is a soup of other molecules that can do things like carry out chemical reactions.

Now, the thing about a protocell is that it's not quite alive. It can't grow or reproduce on its own, like a regular cell can. But scientists think that maybe, a long, long time ago, a bunch of different protocells started to stick together and work together, kind of like how different parts of our body work together to keep us alive. And over a really, really long time, those protocells eventually developed into full-blown living things like plants and animals!