Monday, June 30, 2008

The Intercellular Subway

New research has shown that nanotubes are used to shuttle information between cells. They were previously dismissed as "junk," but it now looks like cells use them to exchange material, and some viruses (virii?) use them to sneak around without getting exposed to vaccines. Weirder still is news that some macrophages in the body use them as spider webs to direct food into their clutches.

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The header image is adapted from a photo taken by Bill McChesney and used under a creative commons license.
 
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