Invincibleworld - Invincible World

Literally on the day of Halloween I have managed to chance upon a cell in a splenic impression smear that looks vaguely like fatso from Casper and I couldn't be happier

Zebrafish Stripes Caused by Cells That Chase Each Other

A cellular game of run-and-chase could help form the iconic stripes on zebrafish skin. Contact between two types of skin cells, the black “melanophores” and the yellow “xanthophores,” prompts the melanophores to move away and the xanthophores to follow in hot pursuit, developmental biologists report online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers’ models suggest that such interactions lead to the pigment cells separating into the distinct bands of zebrafish stripes. To understand how interactions between cells might lead to striped or spotted skin, the scientists found a way to grow pigment cells from zebrafish tail fins in lab dishes. Pigment cells of the same type didn’t seem to interact. But when xanthophores and melanophores were near each other, the yellow cells (apparently attracted) reached out to touch the black ones. The black ones, in turn, were repulsed by the overture and moved away. Undeterred, the xanthophores followed. (In the gif [video], a yellow xanthophore chases a gray melanophore across the screen.) Cells from a zebrafish mutant called jaguar, which has broader, fuzzier stripes, behaved differently. Their black melanophores do not run from the yellow xanthophores, and the xanthophores do not chase them as ardently. This, the researchers say, could explain the mixed populations of yellow and black cells in the stripes’ fuzzy borders. The team hasn’t yet observed the cell movements in developing fish, but the work may help explain why mutations in genes that make proteins that are part of cell membranes can lead to different skin patterns in fish. It may also help explain how other animals—zebras, jaguars, leopards, or Dalmatians—get their patterned skin.

Via sciencemag.org

'fairies dont exist' WRONG❗❗cyerce elegans

If you think science isn’t beautiful, you are wrong.  (All images courtesy of Cell Picture Show)

Lab lately

Bye jet leg and hello experiments. Back to the lab like I never left. Summer hasn't been summering in the States so I made the most of sitting on the balcony enjoying the sun for 1 day

But l'm not really outside this summer soooo catch me INSIDE

Check out these crystals I found in an acidic urine - uric acid crystals?

#Microbes

it would be so cool if you did e. coli in a jason mask (my friend brought this up. doesn’t have to be e. coli tho :P)

or if you did a microbe with the markiplier pink mustache :DDDDD

I've definitely done E. coli before, but I'll absolutely take the hat suggestions! I'm always in need of those.

Leaf epidermis under dark (top) and light (bottom) condition. Stomatal openings seen on both picture.  

the lichen knowledge iceberg i have constructed on request