More to cells than we thought.

[nancylebov]

We might not know half of what’s in our cells, new AI technique reveals

We didn't know about at least half the structures inside cells. Wanna bet that the kidney cell doesn't have a complete set of structures? Wanna bet some more that the AI wasn't *quite* right?

Should we have been expecting this?

I might start referring to cells as mystery blobs.

"In the pilot study, MuSIC revealed approximately 70 components contained within a human kidney cell line, half of which had never been seen before. In one example, the researchers spotted a group of proteins forming an unfamiliar structure. Working with UC San Diego colleague Gene Yeo, PhD, they eventually determined the structure to be a new complex of proteins that binds RNA. The complex is likely involved in splicing, an important cellular event that enables the translation of genes to proteins, and helps determine which genes are activated at which times. "

Comments

[firecat]

I love stories about humans learning how ignorant we are.

[alfreda89]

I just got around to reading Bill Bryson's A SHORT HISTORY OF PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING. Caught only one thing that might be out of date, and even that I'd heard about from only one source.

As a non-science major in college for Reasons, but someone who dips constantly into various new info, my takeaway was. . .we know almost nothing about almost everything. Which is a tad terrifying.

But new equipment that lets us look deeper or sideways into things we had not even imagined are wonderful. I still hope to one day understand why I lived and mostly thrived, when most people who became ill the same time I did are dust.