And, it turns out, they must: Zebrafish aren’t just surrounded by liquid, but turn liquid – in part – during their development. As the zebrafish embryo develops from a ball of cells to a fully-formed fish, a region of the embryo switches its phase from viscous to liquid in a process known as fluidity transition. […]
Embryology
Remarkable vid of a mouse embryo developing
This series of videos from McDole et al. shows the development of a mouse embryo, captured using adaptive light-sheet microscopy, and highlights cell division (part A), cell movements (part B) and tissue dynamics (parts C, D) during embryogenesis. Paper. McDole, K., Guignard, L., Amat, F., Berger, A., Malandain, G., Royer, L.A., Turaga, S.C., Branson, K., […]
At Oscillations: How we go from a sphere to a torus
At her blog, Oscillations, Suzan Mazur reports on the lecture series Simons Center for Geometry and Physics has been hosting at Stony Brook University, on Nonequilibrium Physics in Biology: Among the more interesting presenters is Kim Sneppen, a professor of complex systems and biophysics at Neils Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, who addresses the diversity of […]
Mechanics as well as genetics is needed for viable embryo development
From Suzan Mazur at Oscillations, With the ramping up of investigations in various parts of the world into the mechanics of biology, I’ve decided to post my conversation with Institut Curie biophysicist Emmanuel Farge on the role of mechanics in reprogramming the embryo [2010], relating to his work first published in the scientific literature in 2003, […]
Cells are chock full of information systems, not just DNA
From Jonathan Wells at ENST, looking at a variety of systems, including the bioelectric code: Regional differences in cells and embryos can be specified in other ways besides localization of RNAs in the cortex. Two of those ways have been studied in great detail: the “sugar code” and the “bioelectric code.” Most proteins in living […]
Biophysics is starting to matter in evolution
From Suzan Mazur at Oscillations: The mechanics of morphogenesis is something European scientists, in particular, seem to find intriguing. However, physical biology is an approach many classical biologists in America have had a difficult time in the past understanding as well as accepting, as evidenced by vociferous attacks in the blogosphere on scientists working in […]
The “developmental hourglass” doesn’t actually need to be true
It’s too cool a concept for accuracy to matter. Further to “Remember the ‘developmental hourglass’? Well, not so fast,” Jonathan Wells writes to point out that vertebrate embryos more closely resemble each on another than do their adult forms only if one carefully cherry-picks the desired stages, which are long after the beginning of development. In […]
Remember the “developmental hourglass”? Well, not so fast.
“The hourglass model of embryonic evolution predicts an hourglass-like divergence during animal embryogenesis – with embryos being more divergent at the earliest and latest stages but conserved during a mid-embryonic (phylotypic) period that serves as a source of the basic body plan for animals within a phylum.” Well, not so fast: From Hajk-Georg Drost, Philipp […]
2018 March for Life in Washington, DC: 45th annual response to the 1973 Abortion on Demand US Supreme Court Decision
Today is the March for life in Washington DC. Speakers include: Rep. Paul Ryan, Pam Tebow, Matt Birk and others. We have someone on the ground from the UD family and will be giving updates as we get them across the day. Remember, globally, the abortion holocaust toll rises at a million or thereabouts per […]
Stuff Doesn’t Evolve–It Just Shows Up in the Beginning
Here’s a news article from Phys.Org on a lamprey study. Actually it’s a study concerning phylogenetics and using gene regulatory mechanisms to figure out the relationships that exist. It turns out that in the lamprey, which is part of the Cambrian explosion, the same kind of hind brain gene regulatory mechanisms are in place as […]
Developing embryo’s “rosette” new to science
Researcher, ” … it’s fascinating how beautiful we are then, and how these small cells organise so perfectly to allow us to develop.”
“The Hox clock is a demonstration of the extraordinary complexity of evolution”
“This system is the first “mechanical” clock ever discovered in genetics. And it explains why the system is so remarkably precise.”