Happy brain
A couple of weekends ago I was sitting counting cells in the dark humid microscope room at my lab. All weekend, click click on the counter. From early morning until late afternoon, click clickety click. On the sunday afternoon I started to get fed up with it, but kept on working hard with the impending finish line just nearly within sight. Clickclick click. I listened to a swedish author reading from his short-story-collection " Från Dr Klimkes horisont" (Håkan Nesser). A very exciting collection of short stories, and a very good aid to keep myself active, and my brain to refrain from going offline. I was really into one of the stories, when suddenly I felt a sting of going crazy. It was sunday, afternoon, at the lab, I was more or less all alone, apart from the voice of the author keeping on letting me in on his very exciting story of the two couples in Venice. And then, out of nowhere, a cell was suddenly smiling at me. I looked, and had to look again, while a loop of "am I crazy? I must be crazy! no I am not crazy" was repeating in my head. And a third look confirmed the first sight, and also informed me that I wasn't all crazy (apart from the 'working on a sunday'-part). The cell was smiling at me. When work was slower last week I took the chance to take a cute picture of it in our very advanced confocal microscope. And I am not crazy am I, it is smiling, right?
Some are of the opinion, though, that it looks like the scary mask from a scary movie, and others say the mouth looks like a heart. I guess it is up to the eyes of the viewer to decide. But to me, it is happily smiling. This despite being inside a formerly epileptic brain. For those (if any) neuroscientists out there, the cell is an Astrocyte (a type of glia, non nervecell, of our brains), double-labelled with S100b-GFAP. But for all others, isn't it just a very cute thing? A smiling cell. And isn't it exciting that it can be so easy to determine if a cell is happy or not?
I wonder what the cells in my brain looks like right now. I feel happy, but am I really?
2 Comments:
Indeed, it IS cute, but it does have a heart for a mouth!
By the way, have you started the 24 saga yet?
Hey Arlen!
Well, I can sort of agree that its mouth might perhaps look something like a heart in the picture, but for me he (because I feel it is a he) looks only happy and smiling, no hearts involved. But as long as you appreciate it! It is secondary what you think it looks like. Well so you don't agree with those others saying it looks scary then?
About "24". I am still waiting for some cash flow in my direction in order to be able to feel I can afford to purchase it. But friday I am expecting this to happen no later than friday. So next week I am planning to start up my 24-journey! Will let you know how it goes. Take care!
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