Art 33. Seeing Gaia under microscope

Artwork by Hannah Co, Sheng-hong Chen and Lab for Cell Dynamics, photography by Hannah Co

Materials and Methods:

Cells expressing fluorescent membrane marker were cultured and imaged under Zeiss Axio Observer 7 inverted microscope under controlled temperature (37 °C), atmosphere (5% CO2), and humidity (90 - 100%). Images were taken every 15 minutes using a Zeiss 20x/0.8 M27 Plan-Apochromat objective.

Description:

Microscope: Hey Gaia! How are you doing? 

Gaia: I am feeling wonderful! See, those migratory tracks are leaving information for cells to self-organize into magical patterns soon~ 

The Gaia hypothesis by James Lovelock (1972) postulates that “the Earth is maintained in a habitable state by self-regulating feedback mechanisms involving organisms tightly coupled to their environment.” In the cellular ecosystem, cells leave behind migratory tracks as a feedback mechanism to their neighbors. Cells gather this feedback from other cells to change their space exploration.

Submitted by Hannah Co