What You're Seeing

This 3D view renders every molecule in the simulation as a coloured particle, positioned in the simulated world volume. Molecules are coloured by type — see the legend in the bottom-left corner.

The wireframe box shows the simulation boundary. The brown cylinder at the bottom is a hydrothermal vent chimney, and the semi-transparent horizontal planes show the thermal gradient (red = hot, blue = cold).

Vesicle Shells

Translucent spheres represent vesicles — lipid membrane protocells. Their colour indicates fitness:

• Blue — Low fitness (simple composition)
• Green — Medium fitness (some polymers)
• Gold — High fitness (RNA, peptides, catalysts)

Molecules inside vesicles are protected from ocean loss and can undergo selection, replication, and division.

Key Molecule Types

• RNA strands — information-carrying polymers
• Peptides — functional protein chains
• Lipids — membrane-forming molecules
• Amino acids — peptide building blocks
• Nucleotides — RNA building blocks
• Catalysts — glow red-pink, larger size