Page 113 - The Miracle in the Cell

HARUN YAHYA

n the beginning, scientific circles consid-
ered the cell as the smallest living unit. But
researchers have recently viewed the cell
membrane, so much smaller than the
cell in volume, as a new kind of living
thing. This membrane that surrounds the
cell displays features of a conscious living being,
such as the ability to decide, remember, and evaluate. How does such
a membrane only one hundred thousandth of a millimeter thick
come to possess such features?
For your whole life, and at this very instant, 100 trillion of these
membranes in your body make decisions and then act on those deci-
sions without your even knowing it.
The cell membrane is an enclosure that determines the cell's
boundaries, but its duty is not merely to surround and envelop it.
The membrane also facilitates communication and interaction
between neighboring cells and, probably most important of all, con-
trols what goes into and out of the cell. So thin that it can be distin-
guished only with an electron microscope, its structure has been
found to be made up of a double layer of lipids (fat) with proteins
located on various sites within it (see Figure 6.1). It does not only dis-
play life, however. This membrane also has the extraordinary ability
to make decisions and, due to its memory and the intelligence it dis-
plays, can be considered the brain of the cell.

water
Figure 6.1
The phospholipid
water
structure of the cell
lipid
membrane membrane, only one
hundred-thousandth of
a millimeter thick.

111