Emergence of autopoietic vesicles able to grow, repair and reproduce in a minimalist particle system

This paper describes a 2D particle system in which autopoietic vesicles that are able to grow, repair, and reproduce can emerge from an initial random distribution of individual components. The reproduction process also exhibits inheritance of the vesicle content that could in principle change from one generation to the next and influence fitness, making those autopoietic vesicles eligible to be acted upon by natural selection. Video abstract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmCN_4jTwf8