Under hot, watery conditions similar to those deep under the ocean, certain chemical reactions can make oily molecules similar to those found in living things — from very small ones to really big ones, including both plain oils and oils with oxygen in them.

If you heat up two simple acids—formic acid and oxalic acid—in a hot, pressurized water environment, they both make the same kind of fatty molecules, so either one could work as a starting material to make these lipids.

Scientists made a process that turns gas into fuel, but now they’re tweaking it to make fake butter or oil that you could eat.

This is a factory process that turns gas into stuff like diesel or wax — it was made to make fuel for machines, not food for people.

Scientists can make synthetic fats in a factory that mimic the exact structure of natural fats like butter, lard, and coconut oil, and they can make them in big enough amounts to be useful.