Becoming

February 7, 2019 7:28 AM

A 6-minute timelapse of the development of the alpine newt Ichthyosaura alpestris from single-cell zygote to hatched larva, by Dutch photographer/filmmaker Jan van IJken (SLVimeo).
posted by elgilito (8 comments total)

This world is a magical world.
posted by Bob Regular at 7:58 AM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Amazing. Uncanny.
posted by gwint at 8:23 AM on February 7, 2019

That was gorgeous and fascinating.
posted by verschollen at 9:45 AM on February 7, 2019

I misread as "Alpaca" was like WTF there's no way that's an alpaca.
ALPINE!
NEWT!

IT GOT BETTER.
posted by symbioid at 11:31 AM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'd love a second version that has a length scale and time displayed. It'd be way less aesthetically pleasing but I'm curious if the apparent regularity of the cell division in the beginning is an artifact of editing or not.
posted by ReadEvalPost at 12:10 PM on February 7, 2019

Amazing! So cool to see gastrulation (I think that's what it was?) and the synchronized cleavage at the beginning.

Around 2:42–2:47, what are the small mobile elements that look like they're squeezing between the other cells? They didn't seem to be red blood cells.
posted by Belostomatidae at 12:59 PM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I wondered about those motile cells, too.

I am so glad it didn't have a musical soundtrack. Fascinating.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:22 PM on February 11, 2019

Speechless.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 1:03 PM on February 18, 2019