Astonishing molecular machines

Visualizing is a vital part of scientific discovery. Drew Berry starts with Galileo and Darwin before moving on to his work showing the dynamics of the molecular machinery in our own cells. Watch, be amazed, and understand something about DNA replication.



Carl Zimmer gets it just right (not surprisingly):

Berry's TEDx talk is more satisfying because it's a talk. You look at the mesmerizing images, and Berry explains what you're seeing. What's really interesting is how he-no doubt unconsciously-uses words that switch on the mental eye. When he zooms in on a chromosome, he points out structures passing through it that look "like whiskers," which act as the "scaffolding" for the cell (the microtubules). He then zooms into the place where the chromosome and microtubule meet, the kinetochore. What you see looks like a supercomputer's acid trip. But you can make sense of what you see because Berry uses metaphors. He calls it a "signal broadcasting system." Now all the molecules jittering around aren't totally random. We can see how molecules come together to make life possible.

There's no question that people like Berry are going to be making the movies that fill our heads in our future when we think about what's going on in our bodies. But those movies will need good soundtracks.