How Complex Cells Evolved

In 2026 researchers in Vienna filmed Asgard archaea, the closest known microbial relatives of complex cells, crawling on long arms that appear to rely on actin. This film explains the established story behind that news: the two basic kinds of cell, the bacterial traits of mitochondria and chloroplasts, Lynn Margulis's theory of endosymbiosis, the discovery of the Asgard archaea near Loki's Castle and the first one grown in a lab, the model in which an archaeon and a bacterium merged about two billion years ago, and what the crawling microbes can and cannot tell us.

The cell inside the cell

How complex cells began, and what a crawling microbe adds to the story.

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