CINXE.COM
Cell - RationalWiki
<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"/> <title>Cell - RationalWiki</title> <script>document.documentElement.className="client-js";RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":!1,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"Z0-m_0s-Ew29fGk57fQuoQAAAQ8","wgCSPNonce":!1,"wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":!1,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Cell","wgTitle":"Cell","wgCurRevisionId":2371963,"wgRevisionId":2371963,"wgArticleId":2463,"wgIsArticle":!0,"wgIsRedirect":!1,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Pages using DynamicPageList parser function","Biology","Anatomy","Cellular biology"],"wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Cell","wgRelevantArticleId":2463,"wgIsProbablyEditable":!0,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":!0,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[], "wgMediaViewerOnClick":!0,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":!0};RLSTATE={"site.styles":"ready","noscript":"ready","user.styles":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles.legacy":"ready","mediawiki.toc.styles":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.startup","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.legacy.js","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","mmv.head","mmv.bootstrap.autostart"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.implement("user.options@1hzgi",function($,jQuery,require,module){/*@nomin*/mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); });});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cmediawiki.toc.styles%7Cskins.vector.styles.legacy&only=styles&skin=vector"/> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector"/> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.35.6"/> <meta name="description" content="The cell is the smallest functional living unit. The term was coined by Robert Hooke in his book Micrographia. All living organisms consist of at least one cell except viruses, see below."/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit"/> <link rel="edit" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico"/> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/opensearch_desc.php" title="RationalWiki (en)"/> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"/> <link rel="license" href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyrights"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="RationalWiki Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="RationalWiki"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Cell"/> <meta property="og:description" content="The cell is the smallest functional living unit. The term was coined by Robert Hooke in his book Micrographia. All living organisms consist of at least one cell except viruses, see below."/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Cell"/> <!--[if lt IE 9]><script src="/w/resources/lib/html5shiv/html5shiv.js"></script><![endif]--> </head> <body class="mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Cell rootpage-Cell skin-vector action-view minerva--history-page-action-enabled skin-vector-legacy"> <div id="mw-page-base" class="noprint"></div> <div id="mw-head-base" class="noprint"></div> <div id="content" class="mw-body" role="main"> <a id="top"></a> <div id="siteNotice" class="mw-body-content"><div id="localNotice" lang="en" dir="ltr"><table class="messagebox mb-brainwatermark-light mb-info" style=""> <tbody><tr> <td class="mb-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Information_icon.svg" class="image"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/50px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" srcset="/w/images/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/75px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/100px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620" /></a> </td> <td class="mb-text"><b><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Moderator_elections/Election_booth" title="RationalWiki:Moderator elections/Election booth">Voting</a></b> in the <b><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Moderator_elections" title="RationalWiki:Moderator elections">2024 RationalWiki Moderator Election</a></b> is now open </td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <div class="mw-indicators mw-body-content"> </div> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Cell</h1> <div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body-content"> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From RationalWiki</div> <div id="contentSub"></div> <div id="contentSub2"></div> <div id="jump-to-nav"></div> <a class="mw-jump-link" href="#mw-head">Jump to navigation</a> <a class="mw-jump-link" href="#searchInput">Jump to search</a> <div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"><div class="mw-parser-output"><table class="infobox" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #33CC00; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#33CC00"><b>Live, reproduce, die</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Biology" title="Biology"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Biology</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#e1ffd6;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Biology" title="Category:Biology"><img alt="Icon bioDNA.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/d/d1/Icon_bioDNA.svg/100px-Icon_bioDNA.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/d/d1/Icon_bioDNA.svg/150px-Icon_bioDNA.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/d/d1/Icon_bioDNA.svg/200px-Icon_bioDNA.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#33CC00; text-align:center;"><b>Life as we know it</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#e1ffd6;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Genetics" title="Genetics">Genetics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">Evolution</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Fundamental unit of life: The cell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Zoology" class="mw-redirect" title="Zoology">Zoology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Botany" class="mw-redirect" title="Botany">Botany</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#33CC00; text-align:center;"><b>Divide and multiply</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#e1ffd6;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Candida" title="Candida">Candida</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/HIV/AIDS" title="HIV/AIDS">HIV/AIDS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilov" title="Nikolai Vavilov">Nikolai Vavilov</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Origin_of_life" title="Origin of life">Origin of life</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Francis_Crick" title="Francis Crick">Francis Crick</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#33CC00; text-align:center;"><b>Great Apes</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#e1ffd6;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley" title="Thomas Henry Huxley">Thomas Henry Huxley</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frans_de_Waal" title="Frans de Waal">Frans de Waal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Behe" title="Michael Behe">Michael Behe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Darwin" title="Charles Darwin">Charles Darwin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elisabet_Sahtouris" title="Elisabet Sahtouris">Elisabet Sahtouris</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Biology" title="Template:Biology">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Biology" title="Template talk:Biology">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Biology&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table><div role="note" class="hatnote">This article is mainly about cell in Biology. As such, we are not talking about electrochemical cells, <a href="/wiki/Prison" title="Prison">prison</a> cells, <a href="/wiki/Terrorist" class="mw-redirect" title="Terrorist">terrorist</a> cells, or the cell in a spreadsheet.</div> <p>The <b>cell</b> is the smallest functional <a href="/wiki/Life" title="Life"> living</a> unit. The term was coined by <a href="/wiki/Robert_Hooke" title="Robert Hooke">Robert Hooke</a> in his book <i>Micrographia</i>. All living organisms consist of at least one cell except <a href="/wiki/Virus" title="Virus">viruses</a>, see below. </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Prokaryotes"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Prokaryotes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Eukaryotes"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Eukaryotes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#Evolution"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Evolution</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="#Cell_theory"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Cell theory</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="#The_complexity_of_the_cell"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">The complexity of the cell</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Prokaryotes">Prokaryotes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Prokaryotes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p><b>Prokaryotes</b> are <s>organisms in favor of karyotes</s> cells which do not have a nucleus. They also tend to lack other organelles, and are smaller than eukaryotes. <a href="/wiki/Bacteria" title="Bacteria">Bacteria</a> and Archaea are prokaryotes. These organisms usually have their genetic sequence in a large unprotected loop floating in the middle of the cell structure, with some <b>plasmids</b> at the side to <s><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock" class="extiw" title="wp:BioShock" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: BioShock">give you superpowers</span></a><sup><img alt="Wikipedia" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup></s> encode for things like <a href="/wiki/Superbug" class="mw-redirect" title="Superbug">resistances to antibiotics</a>. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Eukaryotes">Eukaryotes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Eukaryotes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div role="note" class="hatnote">See the main article on this topic: <a href="/wiki/Eukaryote" title="Eukaryote">Eukaryote</a></div> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:167px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Eukaryotic_Cell_(animal).jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Eukaryotic_Cell_%28animal%29.jpg/165px-Eukaryotic_Cell_%28animal%29.jpg" decoding="async" width="165" height="107" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Eukaryotic_Cell_%28animal%29.jpg/248px-Eukaryotic_Cell_%28animal%29.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Eukaryotic_Cell_%28animal%29.jpg/330px-Eukaryotic_Cell_%28animal%29.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1317" data-file-height="856" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Eukaryotic_Cell_(animal).jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>A typical eukaryotic (animal) cell with labeled organelles</div></div></div> <p><b>Endosymbiotic theory</b>, originating at the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, but maturing under the study of biologist Lynn Margulis, is the theory that eukaryotic cells (cells differing from bacteria in their level of complexity and presence of organelles), evolved from prokaryotic cells via the process of endosymbiosis. To oversimplify, prokaryotic cells may have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocytosis" class="extiw" title="wp:Phagocytosis" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Phagocytosis">phagocytosed</span></a><sup><img alt="Wikipedia" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> other prokaryotes, and benefited from the energy-producing properties of them. This relationship eventually became permanent, leading to structures now called <a href="/wiki/Chloroplast" title="Chloroplast">chloroplasts</a> and <a href="/wiki/Mitochondria" title="Mitochondria">mitochondria</a>. In other words, some of the organelles inside the cells in your body were once one-celled <a href="/wiki/Parasite" title="Parasite">parasites</a> that invaded other cells. Through the process of <a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolution</a>, over millions of years, these parasitic cells lost the ability to live outside their host and became essential to the function and survival of the cell. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Evolution">Evolution</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Evolution">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png" class="image"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png/300px-Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="504" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png/450px-Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png 2x" data-file-width="600" data-file-height="1007" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Cavalier-Smith_-_The_tree_of_life_and_major_steps_in_cell_evolution.png" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cavalier-Smith" class="extiw" title="wp:Thomas Cavalier-Smith" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Thomas Cavalier-Smith">Thomas Cavalier-Smith</span></a>'s<sup><img alt="Wikipedia" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> model of tree of life and major steps in cell evolution</div></div></div> <p>The evolution of the cell is one of the more contested and intriguing aspects of evolutionary theory. Once cellular life has formed, <a href="/wiki/Natural_selection" title="Natural selection">natural selection</a> and all the processes we see today are fairly self-evident and more than capable of working up to complex life. However, getting to the stage where a cell is formed is a slightly more difficult, or at least more time consuming. </p><p>The high degree of complexity in the cell (even though it's just organised <a href="/wiki/Chemistry" title="Chemistry">chemistry</a>) is one of the many things cited as evidence of <a href="/wiki/Intelligent_design" title="Intelligent design">intelligent design</a>. The movie <a href="/wiki/Expelled:_No_Intelligence_Allowed" title="Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed">Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed</a> used it as a key point in an extended computer graphics sequence showing the inner workings of the cell in order to inspire <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity" title="Argument from incredulity">incredulity</a> in its audience.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Cell_theory">Cell theory</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Cell theory">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Cell theory is the theory in <a href="/wiki/Biology" title="Biology">biology</a> that cells form the foundation, the basic unit of all <a href="/wiki/Life" title="Life">living organisms</a>. All organisms that have been recognized as alive are composed of <a class="mw-selflink selflink">cells</a>, although <a href="/wiki/Virus" title="Virus">viruses</a> are somewhat of a grey area and any evolutionary precursor to the cell would obviously not be a cell. </p><p>Despite cells having been observed with various microscopes for centuries, it is still considered a <a href="/wiki/Theory_(science)" class="mw-redirect" title="Theory (science)">theory</a>, just like the theories that the <a href="/wiki/Heliocentrism" title="Heliocentrism">Earth moves around the sun</a>, that <a href="/wiki/Gravity" title="Gravity">gravity</a> pulls things to other things and that the diversity of life is explained by <a href="/wiki/Natural_selection" title="Natural selection">natural selection</a>, <a href="/wiki/Mutation" title="Mutation">mutation</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Genetic_drift" title="Genetic drift">genetic drift</a>. </p><p>The origin of the theory comes from observations as early as the 17<sup>th</sup> century of the cell-like appearance of organisms close up. Cell theory has since evolved and altered as evidence and technology has allowed scientists to look closer at them, starting at first to identify large systems such as the nucleus and cell wall, and moving into smaller sections with larger names such as the endoplasmic reticulum or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mitochondria" class="extiw" title="wp:mitochondria" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: mitochondria">mitochondria</span></a>.<sup><img alt="Wikipedia" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> The perception of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba_proteus" class="extiw" title="wp:Amoeba proteus" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Amoeba proteus">amoeba</span></a><sup><img alt="Wikipedia" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> has evolved from "naked protoplasm" to a complex entity in its own right.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="The_complexity_of_the_cell">The complexity of the cell</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: The complexity of the cell">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>As was mentioned to great anticlimax in the film <i><a href="/wiki/Expelled:_No_Intelligence_Allowed" title="Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed">Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed</a></i>, in <a href="/wiki/Darwin" class="mw-redirect" title="Darwin">Charles Darwin's</a> time, the cell was thought to be simple, but now it is considered to be a vast and complex machine. However, this incorrectly assumes that the nature of the cell has a direct bearing on how evolution by <a href="/wiki/Natural_selection" title="Natural selection">natural selection</a> works, which is simply not the case. Just as if <a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolutionary theory</a> was thrown out completely, the complexity of the cell and cell theory would remain unchanged, the changing knowledge of the cell's complexity has no effect on evolution and natural selection. Indeed, a claim such as <a href="/wiki/Ben_Stein" title="Ben Stein">Ben Stein</a>'s in the movie and his promotional interviews would be akin to saying that <a href="/wiki/Newton" class="mw-redirect" title="Newton">Newton</a>'s theories of gravitation and Newtonian mechanics are wrong because Newton had no clue as to the structure of the atom and its place in the formation of the materials affected by his laws of motion. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Meiosis" title="Meiosis">Meiosis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sponge" title="Sponge">Sponge</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.creative-bioarray.com/Products/Umbilical-Cord-Cells-list-161.htm">Human Umbilical Cord Cells</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">The original, rather than plagiarised video can be found <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.studiodaily.com/main/technique/tprojects/6850.html">here</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/02_01/Sizing_genomes.shtml">Amoebae have almost 300 billion base-pairs</a></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <!-- NewPP limit report Parsed by apache5 Cached time: 20241203193424 Cache expiry: 86400 Dynamic content: false Complications: [] CPU time usage: 0.351 seconds Real time usage: 0.983 seconds Preprocessor visited node count: 468/1000000 Post‐expand include size: 6854/2097152 bytes Template argument size: 1853/2097152 bytes Highest expansion depth: 10/40 Expensive parser function count: 0/100 Unstrip recursion depth: 0/20 Unstrip post‐expand size: 833/5000000 bytes --> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 56.438 1 -total 77.41% 43.689 1 Template:Biologynav 66.25% 37.390 1 Template:Navsidebar 57.67% 32.549 2 Template:Navsidebar2 53.44% 30.159 2 Template:Randomarticles 5.90% 3.332 1 Template:Reflist 4.92% 2.777 1 Template:Main 4.65% 2.623 5 Template:Wpl 3.84% 2.166 2 Template:Hatnote 3.71% 2.092 1 Template:Vte --> <!-- Saved in parser cache with key rationalwiki:pcache:idhash:2463-0!canonical and timestamp 20241203193423 and revision id 2371963 --> </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Cell&oldid=2371963">https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Cell&oldid=2371963</a>"</div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Biology" title="Category:Biology">Biology</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Anatomy" title="Category:Anatomy">Anatomy</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Cellular_biology" title="Category:Cellular biology">Cellular biology</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden category: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_using_DynamicPageList_parser_function" title="Category:Pages using DynamicPageList parser function">Pages using DynamicPageList parser function</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </div> <div id="mw-navigation"> <h2>Navigation menu</h2> <div id="mw-head"> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-personal" class="vector-menu" aria-labelledby="p-personal-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-personal-label"> <span>Personal tools</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="pt-anonuserpage">Not logged in</li><li id="pt-anontalk"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n">Talk</a></li><li id="pt-anoncontribs"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y">Contributions</a></li><li id="pt-createaccount"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Cell" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory">Create account</a></li><li id="pt-login"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Cell" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o">Log in</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <div id="left-navigation"> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-namespaces" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs vectorTabs" aria-labelledby="p-namespaces-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-namespaces-label"> <span>Namespaces</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected"><a href="/wiki/Cell" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c">Page</a></li><li id="ca-talk"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Cell" rel="discussion" title="Discussion about the content page [t]" accesskey="t">Talk</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-variants" class="vector-menu-empty emptyPortlet vector-menu vector-menu-dropdown vectorMenu" aria-labelledby="p-variants-label" role="navigation" > <input type="checkbox" class="vector-menu-checkbox vectorMenuCheckbox" aria-labelledby="p-variants-label" /> <h3 id="p-variants-label"> <span>Variants</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="menu vector-menu-content-list"></ul> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation"> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs vectorTabs" aria-labelledby="p-views-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-views-label"> <span>Views</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="ca-view" class="collapsible selected"><a href="/wiki/Cell">Read</a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="collapsible"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e">Edit</a></li><li id="ca-history" class="collapsible"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h">Fossil record</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu-empty emptyPortlet vector-menu vector-menu-dropdown vectorMenu" aria-labelledby="p-cactions-label" role="navigation" > <input type="checkbox" class="vector-menu-checkbox vectorMenuCheckbox" aria-labelledby="p-cactions-label" /> <h3 id="p-cactions-label"> <span>More</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="menu vector-menu-content-list"></ul> </div> </nav> <div id="p-search" role="search"> <h3 > <label for="searchInput">Search</label> </h3> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform"> <div id="simpleSearch"> <input type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search RationalWiki" title="Search RationalWiki [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput"/> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> <input type="submit" name="fulltext" value="Search" title="Search the pages for this text" id="mw-searchButton" class="searchButton mw-fallbackSearchButton"/> <input type="submit" name="go" value="Go" title="Go to a page with this exact name if it exists" id="searchButton" class="searchButton"/> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div id="mw-panel"> <div id="p-logo" role="banner"> <a title="Visit the main page" class="mw-wiki-logo" href="/wiki/Main_Page"></a> </div> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal portal-first" aria-labelledby="p-navigation-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-navigation-label"> <span>Navigation</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-mainpage-description"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z">Main page</a></li><li id="n-recentchanges"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes in the wiki [r]" accesskey="r">Recent changes</a></li><li id="n-randompage"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Load a random mainspace article [x]" accesskey="x">Random page</a></li><li id="n-New-pages"><a href="/wiki/Special:NewPages">New pages</a></li><li id="n-All-logs"><a href="/wiki/Special:Log">All logs</a></li><li id="n-help"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="RTFM">Help</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-support" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-support-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-support-label"> <span>Support</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Donate"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Site_support">Donate</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-community" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-community-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-community-label"> <span>Community</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Saloon-bar"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Saloon_bar">Saloon bar</a></li><li id="n-To-do-list"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:To_do_list">To do list</a></li><li id="n-What-is-going-on.3F"><a href="/wiki/WIGO">What is going on?</a></li><li id="n-Best-of-RationalWiki"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Contents">Best of RationalWiki</a></li><li id="n-About-RationalWiki"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki">About RationalWiki</a></li><li id="n-Technical-support"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Technical_support">Technical support</a></li><li id="n-Mod-noticeboard"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki_talk:All_things_in_moderation">Mod noticeboard</a></li><li id="n-RMF-noticeboard"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki_talk:RationalMedia_Foundation">RMF noticeboard</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-Social media" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-Social media-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-Social media-label"> <span>Social media</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/RationalWiki" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></li><li id="n-Facebook"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rationalwiki/226614404019306" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></li><li id="n-Discord"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Discord">Discord</a></li><li id="n-Reddit"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Reddit">Reddit</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <!-- Please do not use role attribute as CSS selector, it is deprecated. --> <nav id="p-tb" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-tb-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-tb-label"> <span>Tools</span> </h3> <!-- Please do not use the .body class, it is deprecated. --> <div class="body vector-menu-content"> <!-- Please do not use the .menu class, it is deprecated. --> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="t-whatlinkshere"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Cell" title="A list of all wiki pages that link here [j]" accesskey="j">What links here</a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Cell" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k">Related changes</a></li><li id="t-specialpages"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q">Special pages</a></li><li id="t-print"><a href="javascript:print();" rel="alternate" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p">Printable version</a></li><li id="t-permalink"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&oldid=2371963" title="Permanent link to this revision of the page">Permanent link</a></li><li id="t-info"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Cell&action=info" title="More information about this page">Page information</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" role="contentinfo" > <ul id="footer-info" > <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 14 October 2021, at 16:28.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Unless explicitly noted otherwise, all content licensed as indicated by <a name="Copyright" href="//rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyrights">RationalWiki:Copyrights</a>. <br> For concerns on copyright infringement please see: <a name="Copyright infringement" href="//rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyright_violations">RationalWiki:Copyright violations</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places" > <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Privacy_policy" title="RationalWiki:Privacy policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:About" class="mw-redirect" title="RationalWiki:About">About RationalWiki</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimer"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:General_disclaimer" title="RationalWiki:General disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"><img src="/w/88x31.png" alt="CC-BY-SA 3.0, or any later version" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"/></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_88x31.png" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" srcset="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"/></a></li> </ul> <div style="clear: both;"></div> </footer> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.351","walltime":"0.983","ppvisitednodes":{"value":468,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":6854,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":1853,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":10,"limit":40},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":0,"limit":100},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":833,"limit":5000000},"timingprofile":["100.00% 56.438 1 -total"," 77.41% 43.689 1 Template:Biologynav"," 66.25% 37.390 1 Template:Navsidebar"," 57.67% 32.549 2 Template:Navsidebar2"," 53.44% 30.159 2 Template:Randomarticles"," 5.90% 3.332 1 Template:Reflist"," 4.92% 2.777 1 Template:Main"," 4.65% 2.623 5 Template:Wpl"," 3.84% 2.166 2 Template:Hatnote"," 3.71% 2.092 1 Template:Vte"]},"cachereport":{"origin":"apache5","timestamp":"20241203193424","ttl":86400,"transientcontent":false}}});mw.config.set({"wgBackendResponseTime":54,"wgHostname":"apache5"});});</script></body></html>