r/interesting • u/freudian_nipps • 16d ago

NATURE Death of a single-celled organism

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

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u/Remarkable_Net_6977 16d ago

I am guessing the cell wall ruptured. Whether it didn’t have the nutrients to sustain it or something ruptured it I would guess.

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u/Glittering_End_6864 16d ago

I've been watching YouTube videos about our cells molecular processes, like DNA repair.

From watching those videos, when a cell dies, all those molecules bonding together to form membranes or cytoskeletons, just unbond and fall apart.

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u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 16d ago

There’s a concept in science called entropy. Entropy is inherent disorder, and the universe is constantly moving toward a state of disorder, entropy of a system is always increasing. Life is inherently ordered, and so simply fighting against the natural increase in entropy requires a significant amount of energy input on the part of a living organism. Cells are constantly fighting entropy, and as soon as those processes stop the universe immediately demands that all the order the cells maintained be torn apart.

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u/ManyRevolutionary170 16d ago

If you look closely, something came in contact with it before it started dissolving