All life on earth is threatened by chaos. In this sense, a cell is like a ship which could at any moment sink in a sea of chaos. It must constantly consume energy to maintain the same level of order to avoid going under -- metaphorically speaking, the infiltrating water of chaos needs to be pumped out, permanently. Scientists have now discovered how cells ensure the correct distribution of proteins throughout their interior. What they have found is that many of the proteins which need to be transported to the cell membrane are furnished with a kind of anchor consisting of a fatty acid, which serves to embed the proteins in the cell membrane.