PROTOCELL CIRCUS by Dr Rachel Armstrong and Michael Simon Toon. Protocells could be the beginning of life on Earth, perhaps the birth of consciousness itself. These simple ‘protocells’ are tiny bubbles; the result of a reaction between a few basic chemicals. They exhibit complex and life-like behaviours which seem to validate Aristotle’s theory of Spontaneous Generation, which was made obsolete by Louis Pasteur’s Germ Therory but which never accounted for the origin of the germs, only their proliferation. The film also potentially answers Charles Darwin’s unanswered question regarding the “spark of life” that started evolution on its journey. If the behaviors of the protocells really are recognizable as similar to our own, it may be because our own behaviors actually reflect those of the protocells; the evolution of a basic chemical reaction. Find out more about protocells by google searching the terms Abiogenesis, Primordial soup or Origin of life.  Protocell creation and video production by senior TED fellow and UCL teaching fellow Dr Rachel Armstrong at University College London. Editing, sound design, post-production and “thought moments” subtitles by Michael Simon Toon.