Life Begins With Mesmerising Waves: That's Science:

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by paddoboy, Mar 29, 2020.

  1. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    27,543
    https://www.sciencealert.com/life-b...wirling-over-microscopic-bodies-study-reveals

    Life Begins With Mesmerising Waves Swirling Over Microscopic Bodies, Study Reveals

    PETER DOCKRILL
    27 MARCH 2020
    As life starts, the crazy whirl begins. That's not poetry or philosophy. It's science.

    Once an egg is fertilised, billions of proteins ripple out across its surface, unleashing a dizzying cascade of swirling patterns. These spiralling arcs aren't for show, though; the phenomenon may be pretty, but it's also a fundamental part of nascent cell division.

    "The egg is a huge cell, and these proteins have to work together to find its centre, so that the cell knows where to divide and fold, many times over, to form an organism," says physicist Nikta Fakhri from MIT.

    "Without these proteins making waves, there would be no cell division."

    In a new study, Fakhri and fellow researchers examined what these whirling waves look like up close, examining their propagation patterns on the cell membranes of starfish eggs (Patiria miniata).

    Beyond grasping the biology of starfish oocytes, the researchers wanted to see how these patterns might compare to similar wave phenomena in other kinds of systems – examples of what physicists call topological defects.

    As the researchers explain in a new paper, these kinds of turbulence-like behaviours can be seen in both physical and biological matter, in scales that range between the cosmological and the infinitesimal: from swirling vortices in planetary atmospheres to bio-electrical signalling in the heart and brain.

    Yet while the similarities may be abundant, the nature of their sameness remains mysterious, theoretically speaking.
    more at link....

    The findings are reported in Nature Physics.
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Q-reeus Banned Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,695
    The title is misleading journalistic hype. Fertilization is not the point life begins; the unfertilized egg is already alive - obviously. Ditto the sperm.
    Contents of article also misleading. Not something radically new - this kind of thing has a lengthy history of study. Systems driven far from equilibrium. Covered quite nicely in the 1991 paperback 'The Arrow of Time', chapters 5, 6, 7 in particular. Pics of slime-mold patterns shown there match quite well to that in the OP article 'swirl movie'. Trying to tie the swirling phenomena to topological defects therefore seems particularly odd. Well if you are dependent on grants no doubt it pays to jazz things up.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    27,543
    Most probably as is most journalism hype in one form or another, just as posts to public forums are, in one form or another.
    Still, I'll go with the gist of the article at this stage and its report in "Nature Physics"
    And yes, I accept that a separate egg and sperm are biologically living cells, and that when joined together, reproduction will occur. Still if we look at each separately, the number of times a male will ejaculate without fertilization, he may hypothetically be had up for mass murder, if one choses an unrealistic view.
    It certainly is also food for thought on the wonders and certainty of Abiogenesis...once there was no life: then there was. Discovering and realizing the process of that marvel, would be a feather in the cap of science.
    Thanks for reading my contributions anyway my friend!
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2020
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.

Share This Page