Cancer cells know they’re bad. Determined to raise hell, cancer cells furtively propagate through the body.
Category: Cells
Endosomes are the containers cells use to transport materials for use within a cell or disposal. Endosomes exemplify the tidiness and intelligence which cells have.
Seed germination illustrates that vital energy is the essentiality of life.
Life on Earth emerged many times. Cells of several sorts arose, their chemistry and structures confined to certain parameters of potentiality. The possibilities were delimited by efficiencies and data facility. Indeed, information has always been the defining feature of life, as has been sharing.
Enterprising microbes paved the way for large life on land by breaking bedrock into bits.
Bacterial marauders of animals slyly ply their craft.
Mitochondria are a cell’s power source. This organelle is also pivotal in the cell life cycle. There are multiple signaling pathways between a mitochondrion and various organelles.
Animal tissues are cities of cells. Each tissue cell is a worker with responsibilities. There is also the communal responsibility of making sure that the city is functioning well.
Communication within and between proteins is critical to cell health. Proteins set up instant messaging networks to track status and coordinate behavior.
Cells are not perfectionists. When DNA is damaged, cells repair sufficiently to keep their machinery working. Such workmanship is also found in wounds, where tissues are mended well enough to recover functionality, but not blemish free.
A mitochondrion is the power plant for eukaryotic cells, as well as performing many other functions. It is the only organelle that retains its own genome and the machinery for self-maintenance. To meet cellular needs, a mitochondrion has an extensive communication network, both within itself and with the rest of the cell.
The English term germ emerged from the French germe in the 1640s, which evolved from germen in Latin, meaning a biological genesis, as with seeds and buds. A germ as a “seed of a disease” was planted in English in 1796; that of harmful microbe in 1871. A century and a half later, germs are found winning against those who would label them as such.
The slimy, hydrated gel called mucus lines all wet epithelia in our bodies – over 200 square meters, including the eyes, lungs, and gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts. Healthy individuals produce several liters of mucus daily. Mucus was long thought merely a lubricant and physical barrier against pathogens. Mucus also acts as a communication filtering device to potentially nefarious microbes.
While looking out, the human mind creates a visual image corresponding to 1,600 megapixels (million pixels) each millisecond (1/1000th of a second). This is 274 times more detailed than high-definition TV images. The astonishing process of sight cannot be explained physiologically. Further confirmation of this has recently been provided by researchers who identified the receptors responsible for catching the photons which supposedly compose a visual image.
Evidence only supports the idea of nerve cells as physiological signal transducers. Yet so-called scientists religiously cling to the concept of neurons as the locus of mentation and even consciousness. Why is that?
Bacteria are among the earliest evolved life on Earth. They have survived the vicissitudes of the ages through sense of community.
Researchers recently found the protein responsible for sensing cold in animals, from primitive worms to late-evolved bipeds who read blogs. The protein has a close association with nerve cells. What the researchers did not discover were the obvious implications of what they did discover.
In multicellular organisms, somatic cell replication is essential to replacing worn-out cells with fresh copies. While, to some degree, plants can grow themselves past genetic defects, animals must have good working replacements for proper functioning.
Microbes participate in various cooperative social behaviors, similar to macroorganisms, though the intimacy of their cooperative endeavors often exceeds those of larger organisms. Symbiosis among different microbial species evolved as a means to optimize the special skills that each species can contribute. Microbes cooperate to better exploit resources, resist stressful environments, protect themselves and their territory against other microbes, and to wage war.