Comments on: Om nom nom nom

Om nom nom nom

orthogonality — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:08:55 -0800

A Hunter-killer stalks its prey in your bloodstream.

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:25:24 -0800

Heh, this reminds me of the cartoon I used to watch as a kid that had people, heck entire societies, living in the body fighting diseases and such. I'm just a bit disappointed that these micro killers don't wear orange space suites and that there aren't any cute black haired chicks hanging around. Oh well.

By: Faze

Faze — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:33:36 -0800

...and I suppose you believe this whole complex immune system just sort of "evolved" out of millions of accidental collisions of molecules, without any intelligent intervention?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:36:20 -0800

Your 1st link: I cheered when the neutrophil finally swallowed up that pesky bacterium. Yay, neutrophil! Your 2nd link: "...the blood of a graduate student..." Priceless! Your 3rd link: Isn't it just cute as hell how all those cells bob around? Your 4th link: Interesting.

By: jammy

jammy — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:44:41 -0800

By: hoskala

hoskala — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:00:24 -0800

Heh, this reminds me of the cartoon I used to watch as a kid that had people, heck entire societies, living in the body fighting diseases and such. Once upon a time - Life. One of the best educational cartoons ever.

By: JeffK

JeffK — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:25:33 -0800

But how do the neutrophils sense the chemo-attractants from such a relatively long distance? It's a bit like a shark smelling blood from a mile away. Nature is just so cool.

By: dog food sugar

dog food sugar — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:59:58 -0800

Neutrophils are such bad asses. Busting it up all over the place! When their numbers are low they send the baby neutrophils out to fight and die that's how hardcore they are. how do [they] sense the chemo-attractants from such a relatively long distance? From what I like to think of as the Scouts in Operation Infection: histamine, kinins, leukotrenes and complement are a few, floating around looking for trouble to report back. Here's my quicky but perhaps verbose explanation of the Immune System Army [self mefi answer link].

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:02:57 -0800

Freaked me out as a kid when one ate Donald Pleasence in Fantastic Voyage

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:30:34 -0800

I still don't like Donald Pleasence because he was such a dick in that movie.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:32:20 -0800

Damn. I'd hoped this was about macrophagi. They consume bacteria by phagocytosis!

By: TedW

TedW — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:34:48 -0800

Heh-Heh-you said phag!

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:55:02 -0800

wow. Those videos are amazing! Thanks orthogonality.

By: Jeeb

Jeeb — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:00:18 -0800

...and I suppose you believe this whole complex immune system just sort of "evolved" out of millions of accidental collisions of molecules, without any intelligent intervention? I realize that the proper way to deal with people who feel the need to troll internet forums is to ignore them, but, really... what the hell? I've never seen it done, here at my beloved MetaFilter at least, so horribly. Please go away. That said, thanks for a very interesting post orthogonality.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:12:25 -0800

By: JeffK

JeffK — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:20:30 -0800

dog food sugar - That was brilliant. Thanks. Jeeb - I think that was a joke. Lighten up.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:28:29 -0800

By: Xoebe

Xoebe — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:30:08 -0800

""evolved" out of millions of accidental collisions" Not millions. Trillions upon trillions of collisions, planetwide, every second of every day for over 5 billion years. Abiogenesis is very poorly understood, as there is no direct historical evidence. However, scientists have been able to create complex amino acids and organic chemicals directly from inorganic chemicals, simply by recreating what are believed to be the conditions on earth billions of years ago. Energy+chemicals+time=organics. The next step is theorized to be that some of these these precursor organics had the characteristic ability to replicate, probably much along the lines of how inorganic crystals are able to promulgate an organized pattern simply by falling into place at the molecular level. Once replication occurs, then it's a simple thing to introduce mutation into the mix, and mutation is the key. Almost all mutations are dead ends. Some are not. It is well known that bacteria were pretty much the only life on earth for a very, very long time before there was anything else. It is not known for certain what was going on before that, but we can make some pretty fair educated guesses. The key word in that phrase is educated.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:40:55 -0800

Oh the irony... I'm sick as a dog a the moment, though I suspect it's antibodies I need.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 09:11:10 -0800

Those are pretty cool videos! I was also glad to see a shout out to Once Upon a Time... Life. The whole Once Upon a Time... series was great, in fact. I loved that show when I was a kid.

By: Lipstick Thespian

Lipstick Thespian — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 09:12:15 -0800

Can't talk now - being attacked by a predatory meme shark.

By: extramundane

extramundane — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:02:15 -0800

...and I suppose you believe this whole complex immune system just sort of "evolved" out of millions of accidental collisions of molecules, without any intelligent intervention? Yes. Another fascinating component of the innate immune system is the complement system. Complement proteins that are floating around in your bloodstream essentially snag on to non-self cells and polymerize to form a pore in a bacterium's membrane, causing it to rupture. This system is found in many species, including non-mammals such as fish and plants.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:08:41 -0800

and I suppose you believe this whole complex immune system just sort of "evolved" out of millions of accidental collisions of molecules, without any intelligent intervention? Very good point. That does strain my credulity. Especially the part where the accidental collision of molecules created sentient beings who think the more likely scenario is that some old bearded dude in the sky made it all up in six days. That just couldn't happen all by itself.

By: sneebler

sneebler — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:23:57 -0800

I've never seen it done, here at my beloved MetaFilter at least, so horribly. Please go away. Where is Kibo when we need him?

By: Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:51:14 -0800

Anyone who has shared a fridge with a roommate knows that life can -- and does -- happen spontaneously, without intelligent intervention.

By: lostburner

lostburner — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:10:30 -0800

Deep breath, friends. I'm positive that Faze was being ironic.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:01:22 -0800

Oh wow. This totally reminds me of a comic strip I used to draw when I was in grade school: The Germs versus the Anitbodies. They had little helmets and little swords and little shields, and used to fight it out in various organs around some vague anonymous human body. God I was I weird child.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:03:18 -0800

erm, a weird child. There you go.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:40:40 -0800

Watch your back, Roomba.

By: PontifexPrimus

PontifexPrimus — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:45:24 -0800

I'm full of tiny shoggoths!

By: dirty lies

dirty lies — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:54:43 -0800

If you like this kind of stuff, I encourage you to read Parasite Rex. And not related to the immune system, but a great book, Microcosm. Two of the best books I've read this year. Can anyone recommend something like that about the immune system?