News > A biochemist’s view of life’s origin reframes cancer and aging

A biochemist’s view of life’s origin reframes cancer and aging

All living cells power themselves by coaxing energetic electrons from one side of a membrane to the other. Unlike the genetic code, these mechanisms are not the same everywhere: The two simplest categories of cells, bacteria and archaea, have membranes and protein complexes for producing energy that are chemically and structurally dissimilar. 

This mystery led Nick Lane, a professor of evolutionary biochemistry at University College London, to an unorthodox hypothesis about the origin of life.