OTD in Science History!

On September 17, 1683 Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote to the Royal Society reporting his discovery of microscopic living animalcules, or live bacteria! Known as the "Father of Microbiology," Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) is considered one of the first microscopists and microbiologists.

He made observations on the plaque between his teeth:

After writing numerous letters to the Society regarding his scientific findings, van Leeuwenhoek finally was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1680 in spite of their earlier skepticism of his research. His work with the microscope revealed microbes, which he referred to as animalcules, and are now known as unicellular organisms. In this pioneering work on microscopy, engraved plates detail the physiology of natural history specimens.

Check out van Leeuwenhoeck's Arcana Naturae Detecta, digitized on our digital collections site.

The world's longest-running lab experiment

The Pitch Drop Experiment

The experiment demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar that is the world's thickest known fluid and was once used for waterproofing boats.

Thomas Parnell, UQ's first Professor of Physics, created the experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties.

At room temperature pitch feels solid - even brittle - and can easily be shattered with a hammer. But, in fact, at room temperature the substance - which is 100 billion times more viscous than water - is actually fluid.

In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years, and then in 1930 he cut the funnel's stem.

Since then, the pitch has slowly dripped out of the funnel - so slowly that it took eight years for the first drop to fall, and more than 40 years for another five to follow.

Now, 87 years after the funnel was cut, only nine drops have fallen - the last drop fell in April 2014 and we expect the next one to fall sometime in the 2020s.

The experiment was set up as a demonstration and is not kept under special environmental conditions - it's kept in a display cabinet - so the rate of flow of the pitch varies with seasonal changes in temperature.

The late Professor John Mainstone became the experiment's second custodian in 1961. He looked after the experiment for 52 years but, like his predecessor Professor Parnell, he passed away before seeing a drop fall.

In the 86 years that the pitch has been dripping, various glitches have prevented anyone from seeing a drop fall.

- University of Queensland, Australia

Image of the Week – June 1, 2020

CIL:50519 - http://cellimagelibrary.org/images/50519

Description: We examined the structural organization of cytoskeletal components and membrane systems in neurons of well preserved biopsy material from Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Information was obtained from thin sectioned material using conventional electron microscopy and from thick sections with the high voltage electron microscope. Stereo viewing and computer assisted serial reconstruction techniques were employed to visualize three-dimensional relationships among cytoplasmic components of cortical neurons.

Authors: Mark Ellisman, Rama Ranganathan, Thomas Deerinck, Stephen Young, David Hessler, and Robert Terry

Licensing: Public Domain: This image is in the public domain and thus free of any copyright restrictions. However, as is the norm in scientific publishing and as a matter of courtesy, any user should credit the content provider for any public or private use of this image whenever possible.

No rest for cholesterol!

powerhouse party!

Enzymes are proteins that help speed up chemical reactions in our bodies. Enzymes: a catalyst.

Difference between cell wall of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria

cell bio midterm cram✔️

Hope it went well!

Seeker: Mitochondria Aren’t Just the Powerhouse of the Cell

Mitochondria are so much more than the powerhouse of the cell. In this episode, Patrick explores why this organelle is so unique and introduces new research that you probably didn’t hear about in school.

Got bored. Sewed some models of animal and plant cell structure out of felt.

A Little Perspective

Imagine strolling along the surface of a single cell from your body. Protruding structures tower over you like trees in a forest, helping you learn their biological form and function, like a child on a guided nature walk. Creating this experience, or a virtual version of it, is the goal of a new tool called Nanoscape. Our detailed understanding of structural cellular biology has enabled an explosion of digital renderings in recent years. But aligning scientific data with aesthetically functional and impactful images is not straightforward. This approach combines data from many sources to create as accurate a representation as possible without sacrificing the visualisations’ aesthetic appeal (pictured, well-known cell-surface markers above, then placed on a virtual sphere to approximate a cell surface environment). Immersive representations like this articulate intricate complexities of biology, both for education and for those seeking to answer fundamental questions about how microscopic dynamics underpin life.

Written by Anthony Lewis

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mRNA vaccine

(Print done with akua ink)

I posted this pic of the stem cells (iPSC) I’m working with on my social media and legit got only 4 likes from other cell biologist friends. I’m like... seriously??? THEY’RE STEM CELLS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. They’re the coolest things ever. Hahah. Guess not everyone agrees.

How many chromosomes do Humans have?

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Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46 chromosomes.

Some humans *

Shipping department of cell

Golgi complex