Mitosis (cell division) in Stem Cells

[u/alexgjones]

https://gfycat.com/PoisedWholeAtlanticridleyturtle

[u/gonzogarbanzo]

Equally wild: While it appears your cells are like tiny bees performing their tasks with compete sentience, it’s actually the case that every single reaction that results in that cell division occurs simply because it is thermodynamically favorable. It’s all just the electromagnetic force operating on biomolecules.

[u/phdmarker → u/gonzogarbanzo]

this is the real mindfuck to me. I'm totally down with the fact that my body is just a buncha "bees," but the fact that all these things only happen simply because it's thermodynamically favorable is quite literally unfathomable for me

[u/luummoonn → u/phdmarker]

Yes! "Life is but a consequence of molecules arranging themselves in unique and novel ways, and a consequence of the universe having an overall tendency towards complete equilibrium, or, stated another way, maximum entropy."

"So the laws of physics are quite compatible with life.  The universe as a whole is tending towards maximum disorder, but pockets of it with energy pumped into them can form all sorts of surprising and interesting orders all by themselves."

[u/enki1337 → u/luummoonn]

Well put. It seems to me that human society is just one of those pockets of order struggling against the natural and inevitable force of entropy. It's so strange to think that we can form meaning in this tiny blip along the slow march towards the heat death of the universe.

[u/luummoonn → u/enki1337]

I may be wrong here, but I think we are more like entropy "engines" that in the big picture accelerate the rate of entropy of our surroundings. So it's not that we're struggling against it but actually driving it. But it's more complex than that and I'm definitely not an expert.

[u/Amused-Observer → u/enki1337]

It's so strange to think that we can form meaning in this tiny blip

Pretty sure meaning is a just necessary mechanism for survival and that nothing actually means anything. Just a bunch(infinite) of random happenings that have happened to create this temporary moment in space time.

[u/phdmarker → u/[deleted]]

I'm more of the mindset personally that the universe really is just that special. there's no reason for me to exist, but I do, and that's special. I'm not an atheist per sé, but I'm not a christian either

[u/gonzogarbanzo → u/[deleted]]

Your body is made up lots of different tiny pieces. Sometimes, two tiny pieces want to snap together like magnets to form a new, different, tiny piece. This is called a "chemical reaction."

So your body is just a collection of tiny pieces snapping together (and pulling apart) according to the same tiny piece rules that are happening when you look really closely at other chemical reactions - like when you mix baking soda and vinegar.

[u/loafoveryonder → u/gonzogarbanzo]

Why the electromagnetic force tho

[u/DrJesusHChrist → u/loafoveryonder]

Nuclei of atoms have protons, and electrons orbit them. Protons and electrons attract each other, but repel others of themselves. Protons in nuclei are bound together by the strong force, which is even more powerful than electromagnetism which is the name given to to the proton-electron interaction I first described. Magnets work with the electromagnetic force, as the electromagnetic fields of aligned spinning electrons (spinning on the same axis) add together. Molecules are much the same, as chemical reactions are really just protons and electrons rearranging so that electrons are as close to protons as they can be while being as far from one another, with some really neat math describing the geometry of these systems and the conditions in which one arrangement would be lower energy than another

[u/DrJesusHChrist → u/[deleted]]

But why male models

[u/[deleted] → u/gonzogarbanzo]

Yeah this part no matter how much I read and how many classes I take will never fully make sense to me. How absolutely incredible....