Amazing images of cells and pseudo cells on a miniature pattern replicating the facade of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris! The pattern was used to study the capacity of cells and cytoskeletal component to self-organise.

It was published by Manuel Théry and the CytoMorpho laboratory as a FocalPlane post and displayed as a night-show in Paris.

The conclusions of the experiments are highly inspiring, at the border between Biology, Art, Architecture and Philosophy. 😀

Conclusions

All of these experiments illustrate that it is by constantly breaking down that living systems are able to rebuild themselves by adapting to changes in their surroundings. The bonds between biological components are so fragile that they can be easily broken and rebuilt, which gives living structures great plasticity. This plasticity allows cells to constantly adapt to their environment. Unlike inert materials, in which the strength of the bonds allows them to resist and endure, it is the fragility of these bonds that allows living systems to constantly reinvent themselves. But their plasticity is also their weakness. If the balance between destruction and construction is not perfect, the system cannot hold together and dies quickly.

Cells thus use their internal dynamics to explore every possibility, without goal or intention, simply because it is possible. Anything too unstable will collapse and make way for other attempts. Cells therefore spend their time playing with the limits of their stability. Most of them will die as a result. We are today the product of an evolution paved by the death of trillions upon trillions of cells. These adventurers did not attempt to achieve a specific goal that would have made them more robust or more efficient. They tried everything made possible by their internal dynamics.

Image: Nevena Morel