What is the structure of the cell membrane? what does it look like and what are other names for it?

The structure of the cell membrane is a plasma membrane, or a phospholipid bilayer. Basically, that means that the membrane is made of a phosphate head and two lipid (fat) tails on the end. There are two of these structures combine together to form the layer. That makes the surface attracted to water (hydrophilic) and the inner layer repelling water (hydrophobic). In the layer, there are embedded proteins to maintain selective permeability of the membrane so that the intercellular environment is maintained. Water soluble substances are able to go in and out of the cell through diffusion/osmosis. Bigger molecules have to go through a protein. There are channel proteins, which are like large tunnels to let materials through, there are gated proteins, that function in accordance with a lock and key model, where you need a specific substance to be present for the substance to be admitted in. Lastly there are active transport proteins that work against concentration gradients (i.e. tendency of materials to flow from high concentration to low) and use energy (ATP) to bring material in and out of the cell against the gradient. There are intrinsic proteins which act as anchors for cytoskeleton, there are cholesterol molecues that act to repair the cell membrane, there are extrinsic proteins which act as blocks for glycocalyx or glycoproteins to exist. These things are messengers of the cell/how the body recognizes the cell itself.

Mutations are changes in the dna