A New Shape Called the 'Scutoid' Has Been Discovered In Our Cells (gizmodo.com) 29
Scientists have discovered a new shape called the scutoid (SCOO-toid) while studying epithelial cells, the building blocks of embryos that eventually end up forming our skin and lining our organs and blood vessels. The new "twisted prism" shape is "extremely efficient at keeping cells tightly-packed and organized in the literal twists and turns of development," reports Gizmodo. From the report: As embryos grow, their tissues curve and bend as they start to form into organs. Scientists thought the cells could stay tightly packed if they were bottle- or column-shaped, but computer modeling suggested that a more complex shape would be more likely. First, a computer model set out to predict which cell shapes would be most efficient at staying in contact with one another in both flat or curved layers. That shape ended up being prism-like, with six sides one end, five on the other, and a strange triangular face on one of the long edges of the prism. Using microscopy and computer imaging, the team confirmed that cells found in fruit fly salivary glands and cells in zebrafish were indeed scutoid-shaped. As noted in their paper published Friday in Nature Communications, the researchers believe these scutoid-shaped cells exist in any curved sheet of epithelial cells -- even in humans.
Scoot (Score:1)
the burbs.
How is this useful? (Score:3)
Now I'm trying to imagine what I can design for my 3D printer to make use of this.
It doesn't seem any more efficient than the hexagonal design patented by bees a few millennia ago.
Re: (Score:2)
Altho that patent expired before humans invented paper....
Re:How is this useful? (Score:4, Funny)
No wonder I got stung by that bee lawyer then.
Re:How is this useful? (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't seem any more efficient than the hexagonal design patented by bees a few millennia ago.
This one is tridimensional.
Re:How is this useful? (Score:5, Insightful)
"It doesn't seem any more efficient than the hexagonal design patented by bees a few millennia ago."
A hexagonal prism is efficient in a flat plane. A hexagonal frustrum is efficient in a spherical shell. However, when the curvature is different in different directions, e.g. a tube, neither is efficient because a cell's nearest neighbors will be different on the inside surface vs. the outside surface
Graboids (Score:3)
They should have named them graboids.
Discovered in our cells (Score:4, Informative)
No it hasn't been discovered in our cells, unless you're a fruit fly or a zebrafish. It was suggested due to computer modeling. TFA says it may be in our cells, and that the scientists think it's possible.
The title is just extra clickbaity. Talking about a new geometry isn't punchy enough, so looks like BeauHD decided to make an assertion that wasn't in TFA.
Re: (Score:1)
BeauHD is either a fruit fly or a zeebrafish and just made a slip of the tongue as it were.