Seeing is believing, new technology let’s you see what’s really happening in your cells!
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We get good at what we focus on, and we love to focus on what we can see. A very long time ago in middle school I think, we all had to build a little model of a cell, 1 plant, 1 animal. It was a great exercise to learn about the cell. Funny enough, my cell only had 1 mitochondria that I can remember, and so until recently, I thought cells only had 1 mitchondria (power plant).
Until I read “Ending Aging” by Aubrey de Grey anyway. Turns out there’s thousands of them, in each cell, I believe some more than others…Why does it matter?
Human progress in any area is a function of a few things. The number of people trying ideas on for size, the creativity, tenactiy, and intelligence of the people focused in that direction, and there’s always those mistakes, many many great things come about accidently, (and most often accidents occuring while experimenting.)
Technology that gives us the ability to “see” what’s really happening in the cell gives more people “hooks” for their minds to grab on to, so that more people can try better ideas, in a world they never even really visualized moving before. (Have you ever seen the insides of a cell doing their work before?)
And with that added layer of movement, and interaction, it becomes much much easier for the layman and the hobbyist to become professional. Innovations like these that offer a paradigm shift in understanding a system vastly improve creativity in the field. I know that as this technology comes along, I will be very interested to see videos alongside descriptions for when a cell is doing something properly, and when something has gone wrong, and how it functionally affects the cell’s mission.
Mechanical engineers have had the benefit of CAD “computer aided design” for many years now, it’s pretty amazing to see the beginnings of CAV “computer aided visualization.” The presenter says that we’ve only got a good grasp on maybe 1 percent of what’s really going on inside the cell, (as though there were only one 
), One day we’ll be at 99 percent, and we’ll be designing instead of just understanding.
We all get good at what we focus on. The easier and more enjoyable a topic is to think about, the longer, harder, and more creative we’ll be in that area. People are doing cold fusion in their garages (yes, I’m serious: http://lenr-canr.org/Experiments.htm) How many people are doing work to improve the human machine in their garage? Body builders everywhere are raising their hands.
The animated, accurate representation of what’s really going on in the most complicated machines we know of is a huge step in the right direction. Animation is power.
