Organizing the Cell

I’ve long suggested that life is a form of carbon-based nanotechnology, as the more we learn about the cell, the more sophisticated it becomes.  Doubt me?  Take 30 minutes and listen to the following lecture by microbiologist Lucy Shapiro as she describes how various events in the cell cycle in the simplest of cells is carried out.  Among other things, you’ll learn about the importance of location and organization inside bacteria, you’ll learn that the bacterial chromosome is laid out in space in an organized fashion, you’ll see the ingenious method the cell uses to target the site where it splits into two, and see how epigenetics is used to control the whole process.  Or at the very least, you’ll feel a little bit smarter for investing that half-hour of your life.

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