I was puzzled by the motion of proteins within cells, which is apparently a still unsolved problem, and it dawned on me that whether or not this explains the motion, you could at least theorize that a given molecule prefers one medium over another medium, even if both have the same net charge, because of the distribution of the charges within each medium. That is, as a molecule gets larger, the small local electrostatic charges could produce macroscopic differences in behavior. So when a given molecule is equally distant from porous mediums A and B, each with the same net charge, it could be that the molecule naturally permeates one medium more often than another, due to the distribution of charges in the mediums and the molecule, not the net charges of either. This would allow for molecules and mediums with a net-zero charge to be governed by small scale electrostatic forces. If this in fact works, it would allow e.g., for DNA to produce protein mediums that are permeable only by molecules that have a particular distribution of charges, even if the net charge is zero. It would also allow for lock and key mechanisms at the molecular level (e.g., tubules), since the attraction could form a seal of sorts, which would not work unless the local charges map line up. This in turn would allow for specialization among tubules, where you could have multiple tubule types, each with their own corresponding charge distribution. It also implies that life could exist without organic chemistry, provided you have the same behaviors from some other set of compounds.