We also got to watch these videos. If you are a visual learner, these videos could be the difference between huh?!? and Ah, yes! when it comes to understanding certain biological processes. It is all pretty basic stuff, but it is the bomb diggity. We were all as giddy as wee school children while we were watching these.
Here’s a little something that has been haunting me lately- telomeres. Seriously, they are little somethings. They are a repetitive strand of DNA that cap chromosomes. The telomere really has one main purpose- it marks time. Each time a chromosome goes through replication, a little piece of the telomere is used up. The telomere gets shorter and shorter each time the chromosome replicates. Trees have their rings. Parents put a pencil mark on a wall at the height of their children. Chromosomes have the length of their telomeres.
Once the telomere gets too short, it signals that the chromosome is too old to be going through all this replication mumbo jumbo. As a result, shortened telomeres usually trigger cells to enter a phase called senescence. After that it’s just a matter of time before the cells decide to call it a day. The alternative is to go all Darth Vader, head to the dark side, and become an immortal cell. Everyone knows the dark side comes with a price- those immortal cells more often than not are cancer-causing little bastards.
This concept troubles me because I firmly believe that there is a certain amount of life that is dictated by willpower. Fate plays a hand, but I have to believe that I have some small lever of my own control. But every time I think of my cells and the amount of information that was given to my cells from the time I was an embryo, it gives me pause. Everything is marking time, and everything seems decided and destined. I could just be playing out a pre-programmed song and dance.
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