Science by a Scientist: Cells

The Stars

With his hands clasped behind his back, King David strolled up and down his balcony in the cool of the night. His attention was drawn upwards to a sky filled with twinkling lights (no light pollution back then). After gazing for some minutes and whispering a prayer of praise, he hurried back inside, called for his scribe, and began dictating what we call Psalm 19.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge…

What Amazes Me

Since that night, people around the world remember King David’s words, as do I. But, do you know what really fills me with praise? What blows me away every time? Thinking about cells. Those microscopic entities that are the basis of all life, from bacteria to dinosaurs to people.

 I taught cell biology at both George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, spoke on the beauty of cells at numerous events, and wrote about them in my now-out-of-print book, Free to Think. I still can’t get over them.  

Cells

They’re tiny. The largest, the human egg cell, is barely visible to the human eye. The smallest is 0.1 micrometers across. When first discovered, scientists thought they were bags of jelly (well, kind of). But, they’re more like a complex and intricate, entirely automated, but responsive, walled city!

 Bruce Alberts, the former president of the National Academy of Science, wrote about the machines in this ‘city.’

“The entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of large protein machines…Like machines invented by humans to deal efficiently with the macroscopic world, these protein assemblies contain highly coordinated moving parts.”

But that’s not all. The cell also contains many encyclopedias worth of DNA information on how and when to make these machines, photocopies of that information for use on the ‘factory floor,’ processing plants, railways complete with little cars with address labels, a recycling plant, highly efficient energy conversion units, and so much more. Plant cells can even make sugar from light, water, and carbon dioxide! And, in the words of Dr. Suess in The Cat in the Hat, “that’s not all, oh no, that’s not all.”

See for Yourself!

To view an animation of the cell’s workings, click here. If you’d like to learn more, I have a video on my website that may be of interest. The information is good, even though it was created before I had much knowledge about video production. And, if you want even more, you could always take a class or two or more!