Mitosis

Even though I know you all understand what Mitosis is, I'm going to write a blog about it. However, I'll spare you the agony of rereading all of the basic biology stuff. Cells make up all life, cells duplicate, yada yada yada. Moving on to the fun stuff.

Mitosis is the way cells duplicate, and without it, none of you would be able to read this today. Or tomorrow. Or whenever it is you read this, Mitosis is what lets you do so. Mitosis is literally *almost* all that is you. Brain cells? Caused by Mitosis. Skin? Mitosis. The wound from falling over on your bike as a child? Healed by - you guessed it - Mitosis. I will point out that your sex cells - sperm and egg - are formed by another process called Meiosis, but I digress.

Mitosis basically goes like this. (I'll warn you now, there's bound to be some spelling errors.)

Interphase - This is before the Mitosis really kicks in. All that really happens here is the organelles duplicate, and the cell grows in size to accommodate them.

Prophase - The chromosomes double and go from a bowl of spaghetti to a bunch of pairs (each set of identical chromosomes) that look like 'x's. While this is happening, two centrioles travel to opposite ends of the cell. Also, throughout the phase, the nuclear membrane is dissolving.

Metaphase - Here, the nuclear membrane has completely disintegrated, and the chromosomes are lining up down the middle of the cell. Also in this phase, the centrioles begin producing spindle fibers, and the organelles begin drifting to ends of the cell, as to be evenly divided when the cell splits.

Anaphase - During this phase, the spindle fibers pull on the chromosomes, pulling them apart and back into single chromosomes. Then, the chromosomes are pulled to the centrioles, and the cell wall begins to slide inward at the middle, and if it were being pinched from the inside.

Telophase - Finally, the cell fully splits into two identical daughter cells, each ready to live on.

Interphase - the cycle starts over again, waiting until it is supposed to to begin again with prophase.



Now, why is this interesting? Well, besides the fact that biology is fascinating, the secrets of Mitosis could unlock the way to growing organs and limbs back. How? well, every body has stem cells, which are basically cells that can become any type of cell. Skin, eye, organ. So, if a scientist were to figure out how to trick the stem cell into continuously going through Mitosis, and provide the necessary energy - all in a laboratory setting, of course - they could have an endless supply of stem cells. At that point, all that has to be done is to trigger the correct bits of DNA to cause the cells to grow into a desired cell type, and find a recipient that can use the newly produced bodily part. This could be used everywhere from treating cancer victims to giving bomb victims new limbs. So, yea. Mitosis is some cool stuff.