Cell Biology

Two of the links didn't work for me. I couldn't get them to open. Checking out the ones that did open made it easier for me to grasp the functions of the cells. I really liked the animations of the meiosis vs. mitosis. The side by side comparison really emphasised the similarities and differences.

Mitosis vs. Meiosis

The website with the flash thingie was cool. It was interesting to be able to see the comparison side by side for the different kinds of cell division. I also thought it was interesting that it described how meiosis in female sex cells result in one large cell and a small one that just disintegrates. That's weird and I wish they would have shown that in the animation. It said that the majority of the cell plasma goes into the large cell and the small one just fades away. That's very interesting.

Cells and TCM

What connections do I make between cell biology and my TCM studies? Hmmm . . . The first thing that pops into my head is the yin/yang relationship. That feels like a gimme. There is an underlying feeling regarding the relation between TCM and the quantum aspects of cellular biology. It's the function for which the form was created that relates most intimately to the study of TCM, in my opinion.

Spike's Gallery

I think this one was my favorite. I love seeing all the little internal organs and networks. All of the pictures are really beautiful. I would like to have several of them displayed in my home. Because the subjects are so small that we don't see them on a regular basis, it makes them very abstract. You could spend a huge amount of time looking at the images and see new things in them all the time. Some of the pictures easily show creatures that are obviously alive. They are very animal in form. Others, you know that they have life, but it's harder to connect that with what you are looking at.

CELLS!

Cells are so cool. They are so complex, so simple. Reflections of us and of our surroundings. I love looking at the different kinds of cells and seeing in them elements of the macrocosm. Like the virus cell that looks like space shuttle, or the plant cells that are like little buildings. It reminds me of fractals, how they can be similar the smaller and smaller you see them. The aspects of the cell contributing to the aspects of that which they make up. All very interesting.

Diversity

Let's see. The most obvious species in my environment are humans. There are two in my house. We share the house with a dog and two cats. Those animals are hosts for the occasional fleas and once in a blue moon, tapeworms. I'm sure there are lots of mites around, living off of shed skin. In the kitchen, towards the end of the week, fruit flies can be seen hovering above the compost container. Larger house flies can sometimes be seen about the house. We have bamboo, chenille plant, avocado tree, citrus tree, apricot tree, plum trees, a group of random succulents, a china doll tree, honeysuckle, palm tree, olive tree, strawberry plant, rosemary, mint . . . . grass . . . and all sorts of ants and slugs, snails, worms . . . molds and fungi live in and around the compost . . . sometimes those huge, um, potato bugs can be found when digging in the dirt, or worse . . .half a potato bug eewwwww!

Animations?

I guess there are some people who are very excited about that website. All those twirling molecules. It didn't mean much to me, so I just watched the little dots and lines swirling, swirling, swirling . . .