At the Dawn of Life, a Mystery

At the dawn of life the first cells were something like the bacteria we see today. Their appearance by itself is a great wonder and mystery, yet another marvel had to take place -- the appearance of the first eukaryotic cells.

What does it take to go from a prokaryotic cell to a eukaryotic cell? Why does it matter? Every animal and plant, every fungus we know is made up of eukaryotic cells. The differences between the two kinds of cells are immense. I discussed this briefly in a post a few d...