[Phys-L] Re: Only from the mouths of students...

[John Denker <jsd@AV8N.COM>]

Dwight K. Souder wrote:
> A funny little story that I wanted to share with the rest of you.  Our
> school's biology teacher came over to me laughing.  In his biology class,
> they are beginning to get into the structure of the cell.  One of his
> students raised their hand and asked if in this section if they'll be
> dissecting cells...and she was serious.

Why the big laugh?

Techniques for dissecting cells have been around for many decades.  Where
do you think they got those pictures of the organelles within cells, as
seen in fifty-year-old books?  (Hint:  they didn't have confocal microscopes
back then.)

Indeed, about three decades ago I heard of a movie where somebody had done
a serial section of an entire planarian.  I didn't actually see it, but the
description went something like this:  The worm was about 1mm long, and
each slice was (IIRC) about a tenth of a micron, so there were about 10,000
slices, making the movie about 7 minutes long.  There was some selective
staining, so you could follow one of the nerve cells from end to end.

I imagine things have gotten even better since then.

A "clinical grade" microtome fits in your hand.  You can buy one (used) for
less than a kilobuck.  "Research grade" items are bigger and pricier.

Googling turns up more than one instance of microtomes being used in high
schools.
_______________________________________________
Phys-L mailing list
Phys-L@electron.physics.buffalo.edu
https://www.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l