biochemicalsoul.com: Amazing Cells in a Dish

"Whether or not the soul is physically real...it's the symbol of everything fine inside us." - Lisa Simpson

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?' Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge." - the late great Carl Sagan

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Amazing Cells in a Dish

I grew these mouse embryonic stem cells on a plate, and through various molecular trickery, I made them turn in to the crazy cell types you see here. (Click for larger images)

Check out the next two images. They are the same cells viewed in two different ways (normal light, and epifluorescence).

Long neuronal axons stretch across the dish below.

Two beautiful connected cells.

Labels: brain, cell, embryonic stem cell, neuron, science

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: Name: Irradiatus; Location: United States

An unimaginable number of synapses converge, combining their action potentials, sending the signal back to a central processor for analysis, sending it out for further clarification, and finally moving a new series of ions across membranes to terminate in the movement of fingers across a keyboard.

I'm a developmental biologist studying brain development. I also teach biology to undergraduates.

I recently finished my first novel (sort of Carl Sagan meets Harry Potter). Hopefully I can get it published after a few more rounds of editing.

I'm also an artist, mostly working on computer graphics and CG animation these days.

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