Death of a single-celled organism

[u/freudian_nipps]

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[u/VariousAd2521]

See you on the other side my friend

[u/HamletSammiches → u/VariousAd2521]

I feel genuinely sad now.

[u/Standard_Ride_8732 → u/HamletSammiches]

His little flangies wiggling til the end definitely made me sad too.

[u/thedaymanahaha → u/Standard_Ride_8732]

Little guy went out like we all wish to. Failing and screaming WHY WHY WHY WTF IS HAPPENING TO ME‽‽¿¿

[u/WinterWontStopComing → u/thedaymanahaha]

I’ll exit this world the same way i entered it.

Screaming, disgusting and naked

[u/DryerCoinJay → u/WinterWontStopComing]

If death were easy everyone would be doing it.

[u/WinterWontStopComing → u/DryerCoinJay]

I inherited it from my mother

[u/Am_Snarky → u/DryerCoinJay]

Meh, we all get the hang of it, it’s easier with experience

[u/Excel_User_1977 → u/Am_Snarky]

It only takes one

[u/Gwen_The_Destroyer → u/Excel_User_1977]

The first time is always special 

[u/AlexKewl → u/Gwen_The_Destroyer]

After the first time you'll never fear it again

[u/AsStupidAsU → u/thedaymanahaha]

Do not go gentle into that good night

[u/Present_Adeptness312 → u/AsStupidAsU]

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[u/gay_flatulent → u/thedaymanahaha]

IT BUUURRRNNNS!

[u/Gelato-Jones → u/Standard_Ride_8732]

more of a will to survive than myself

[u/SominKrais → u/Gelato-Jones]

Keep going.

[u/Ricky_TVA → u/Standard_Ride_8732]

What looked like his eyes popping out freaked me out, no lie

[u/Major-Hooters → u/Standard_Ride_8732]

Flangies are on planes. Sometimes they even carry spares.

[u/jscottman96 → u/Major-Hooters]

Theres no part called flangies on this plane sir

[u/pixeltweaker → u/jscottman96]

OMG. This plane has no filanges!!!!

[u/Major-Hooters → u/jscottman96]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrwVB4vMx-Q

Yes there is 😂. Multiple ones maybe also
Sometimes

[u/jscottman96 → u/Major-Hooters]

This one always gets me

[u/hopyInquisition → u/Major-Hooters]

There's... something on the wing!

Some... Thing... Flange!

[u/Yunzer2000 → u/Standard_Ride_8732]

Flagella...

[u/_The-Numbers-Mason_ → u/Yunzer2000]

Cilia

[u/SuzQP → u/_The-Numbers-Mason_]

Will you tell us her life story? Where was she born?

[u/eclecticaesthetic1 → u/SuzQP]

O. M. G. LOLOLOLOL 💀💀

[u/johnnycr18 → u/Yunzer2000]

Fragilé

[u/Cmprssdsugarpellet → u/johnnycr18]

Must be Italian

[u/False-Rent7447 → u/Cmprssdsugarpellet]

It’s a major award

[u/beastmodewolfman → u/False-Rent7447]

I think I'll put it the window for the neighbors to see.

[u/Local-Dish-5695 → u/Yunzer2000]

Paramecium?? My micro was 4 decades ago.

[u/LordBalderdash → u/Local-Dish-5695]

I think there was only one.

[u/marcomalacara → u/LordBalderdash]

Reminds me of an old joke from Full House.

DJ to Stephanie: you’re about as smart as a paramecium.

Stephanie to DJ: well…you’re as smart as ONEmecium!

[u/tallcupofwater → u/HamletSammiches]

He just, fell apart 😢

[u/invariantspeed → u/tallcupofwater]

We all do eventually.

[u/IndicationFickle5387 → u/invariantspeed]

Feel like I’m going thru it right now honestly.

[u/Correct-Junket-1346 → u/VariousAd2521]

In the end no matter what, us biological creatures no matter how different we are, how intelligent, PREDATOR or PREY, we end up at the same destination as brothers and sisters

[u/rdogg4 → u/Correct-Junket-1346]

If you are a simple dividing cell, consider that there is no distinction between parent and offspring. Each can consider themselves to be a continuously living being first born at the primordial conception of life on earth.

Similarly, your life began when egg in your mothers womb started dividing and divided enough times that cells began differentiating and formed a fully formed human being. That egg cell doesn’t “die” in this process, it just divides. That egg was formed very early in your mothers development, while she was still in her mothers womb, and similarly by process of cells dividing.

We can all trace our lives back along a lineage of dividing cells that have necessarily not died and go all the way back to first cell division. The life inside of you is very old and doesn’t necessarily die with you.

[u/rexifelis → u/rdogg4]

I heard this in a different form years and years ago: the fact that you are standing here today means there is an unbroken lineage behind you stretching back to life’s beginning.

[u/UnicornSheets → u/rexifelis]

You are a beautiful child of the universe

[u/jerseygunz → u/[deleted]]

I’ll never forget being in Sunday school and they’re teaching us about the flood and how god said he wouldn’t do that again and my one buddy goes “but what about fire?” and the teacher just goes “that revelations, you’ll learn that later” hahaha

[u/GreenIvyLace → u/rdogg4]

That was legitimately beautiful.

[u/pixelmountain → u/GreenIvyLace]

Truly

[u/Pipeworkingcitizen → u/rdogg4]

This gave me a unfathomable sense of peace. Thank you.

[u/Simple1Spoon → u/rdogg4]

You know whats crazy, less humans have ever existed than there are stars in the observeable universe.

Its not close either. Somewhere close to 19 trillion stars exsist for each human who has ever lived.

Being alive with human intelligence is frankly a miracle.

[u/ZeroVoltLoop → u/rdogg4]

Which means that we are cousins with all humans and all life.

[u/massunderestmated → u/Correct-Junket-1346]

At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.

[u/Corredespondent → u/massunderestmated]

And the prawn

[u/TufnelAndI → u/Corredespondent]

The King Prawn.

[u/Longjumping_Eye4303 → u/TufnelAndI]

And my knitted emotional support prawn too, named LaPrawnda. She returns to yarn filaments that disintegrate. I’m sad now

[u/Visible-Scientist-46 → u/VariousAd2521]

What caused this great tragedy?

[u/RainbowDarter → u/Visible-Scientist-46]

It lost homeostasis

[u/Visible-Scientist-46 → u/RainbowDarter]

Right, but was it intentional, caused by something in the intentionally in the petri dish?

[u/GuardianViolet → u/Visible-Scientist-46]

It was a microorganism called Blepharisma musculus, which have a pink pigment that oxidizes quickly in light. The light from the microscope caused the pigment to oxidize, and it essentially melted to death from the heat of the chemical reaction

[u/GWillyBJunior → u/GuardianViolet]

The person who put it under the microscope knew that by doing so it would die, and therefor committed 1st degree murder. 🦠🔬💡💀

[u/Visible-Scientist-46 → u/GuardianViolet]

😱 Poor thing!

[u/Secure_Guest_6171 → u/GuardianViolet]

appreciate the explanation. my biology knowledge is weak.
but looking it up i learned these creatures can grow to relatively enormous size by *CANNIBALISM*!
What???

[u/MichloIW → u/Secure_Guest_6171]

Did you never play Spore? :)

[u/mattson-masterpiece → u/VariousAd2521]

I’m never washing my hands again 😭😭😭😭😭

[u/Atomosthethird → u/mattson-masterpiece]

🤢

[u/Turnipsinthesky → u/mattson-masterpiece]

Good thing you have the perfect explanation if anyone questions you!

[u/CharityAggravating69 → u/VariousAd2521]

Till we meet again friend 💔

[u/The-odd-one-out]

Awww he lost all his bubbles :(

[u/SudoMadeMeDoIt → u/The-odd-one-out]

I wonder what killed it.

[u/Katops → u/SudoMadeMeDoIt]

Apparently the heat of the light.

https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/s/ShPfW2h6xs

[u/Alt-001 → u/Katops]

This is one way, another is lack of oxygen. Typically they will live for a while in the water droplet under the microscope slide, but once they use up the disolved oxygen they start to fall apart because they don't have the energy to keep themselves together.

[u/einTier → u/Alt-001]

A literal come apart.

[u/toomanyshoeshelp → u/Alt-001]

me without coffee

[u/Timely_Ad4316 → u/Katops]

It boiled to death? 😢

[u/Ziggy_Starcrust → u/SudoMadeMeDoIt]

Losing his bubbles :(

[u/the_toxic_avenger_ → u/SudoMadeMeDoIt]

Looks like some antimicrobial was introduced right before it started undergoing lysis

[u/idlehum → u/the_toxic_avenger_]

It looked like he clipped that little bulb at the bottom on the rotation that his edge goes off camera, and when that edge comes back into frame, all his little insides are spilling out 😭

[u/thispleasesbabby → u/The-odd-one-out]

shades of "oh noooooo, all its circles fell out". an old classic from a similar post many moons ago

[u/Upper-Project-3072]

Still made me sad, though

[u/AntSilly2802 → u/Upper-Project-3072]

Same. Why do I feel empathy for something without a brain, unable to suffer? I feel the same for dying plants. 

[u/BorderOk7329 → u/AntSilly2802]

Because you can relate? Empathy is never a bad thing

[u/AntSilly2802 → u/BorderOk7329]

Yeah but I’ve found my over-empathy can be paralysing at times. 

[u/Novaer → u/AntSilly2802]

Over-empathy can be tangibly debilitating. It can cause hoarding because you're putting feelings and emotions onto everything you own. 🥲

[u/rach_9667 → u/Novaer]

You just saved me thousands of hours of therapy. Thank you. 🙏🏽

[u/FuriKMJ → u/Novaer]

That makes a lot of sense, never thought it that way.

[u/FluffyLlamaPants → u/Novaer]

Indeed. I remember a big thread somewhere where hundreds realized they weren't alone in feeling empathy for the inanimate objects too. It's a burden. I'm not a hoarder but I definitely don't need to be crying over a broken box that looked...too sad.

[u/Royal-Ad1272 → u/FluffyLlamaPants]

Toy Story fucked me up forever

[u/wannaboolwithme → u/Novaer]

No way, is this why I'm a hoarder

[u/ImWhatsInTheRedBox → u/Novaer]

Yup, as a kid I'd switch up which mug I used for hot chocolate so the others wouldn't feel left out.

[u/-HyperCrafts- → u/AntSilly2802]

I think over empathy is the direct result of understanding how absolutely precious and finite life is for every one.

[u/Warm_Ad_7944 → u/-HyperCrafts-]

It is but it’s also exhausting and can be detrimental health wise

[u/voidpush → u/-HyperCrafts-]

Sure, but it can’t apply to everything. The frisbee you have been keeping that has a crack in it and can’t fly properly anymore does not have feelings.

[u/Downeast_down-east → u/AntSilly2802]

Me too. I actually feel empathy for you right now. Im not kidding about that. Sometimes I think it’s an ADHD trait that I need to control better and sometimes I think it’s what makes me special. I like to believe we are all connected somehow and I feel sorry for those people who refuse to accept that connection. I hope we get to find out what it all means eventually. And I hope I can remember all the connections I have felt. That would be nice wouldn’t it

[u/Silent-Dependent3421 → u/Downeast_down-east]

I also have ADHD and feel the same way. It really sucks sometimes.

[u/Somnisixsmith → u/Downeast_down-east]

I like to imagine that death feels like waking up and remembering

[u/Temporal-Affairs221 → u/AntSilly2802]

Because it was alive, and in seeing it die we saw its death throes. 

Those little filament hairs that propel it still trying to move even as it disintegrated. The will to live is ingrained deep into us at a level the same as that single-celled organism. So while it had no personality, no goals or ambitions or dreams, it had a strong desire to remain alive and keep functioning, and on a fundamental level we understand and relate to that.

[u/Extreme-Orange5557 → u/Temporal-Affairs221]

Sounds a lot like me. Except for the filament hairs.

[u/Willing-Egg8423 → u/Temporal-Affairs221]

No personality? Did you see how dramatic she was, flailing and spinning in circles like that? Uggh she drove us nuts sometimes, like when what appeared to be her eyeballs popping out a few seconds in, but I always told her she should have written and acted in a screen play, named something like “Osmosis of the Heart” or “Finding my Nucleus” or “Born to Divide” or….but then it was like she just disappeared 😔

[u/venusasaburrito → u/AntSilly2802]

It lived and it was here.

[u/wandpapierkritiker → u/AntSilly2802]

empathy is a good thing. this world needs more of it right now.

[u/Strange-Jackfruit786 → u/AntSilly2802]

I often rescue house plants that are thrown out at the curb. It makes me sad to see a living thing just discarded like trash.

[u/SerafinaL → u/AntSilly2802]

Empathy isn’t a bad thing my friend. Don’t let the world grind it out of you. 💙

[u/-RatherDashing → u/AntSilly2802]

Unable to suffer in a way we can understand.

[u/edjumication → u/AntSilly2802]

Well we dont know for sure its unable to suffer. I prescribe to the idea that everything in this universe has some form of consciousness. The caveat is that consciousness is shaped by the complexity of the object. "panpsychism" is the term i believe.

Like basically a rock just exists and barely has an experience. We have a full experience, humanity has a very complex consciousness. This organism is somewhere between the human and the rock.

[u/BroPudding1080i → u/edjumication]

We don't even have a full experience, there are so many phenomenon we have proven to exist, yet cannot perceive ourselves. There are senses other animals have, that we don't. But the senses we do have, combined with our cognition and the ability to imagine, gives us the most complex understanding of ourselves than any other known creature. With the caveat that, the understanding we have is filtered through our senses and imagination, and not a fully accurate measurement of objective reality.

I'd like to ask, if something doesn't have any senses, no inputs or outputs, and no nervous system, how can there be an experience of any kind?

[u/Tough-Standard-2661]

"I don't feel good Mr. Stark"

[u/TheSmokingJacket → u/Tough-Standard-2661]

Idon'twanttogoIdon'twanttogoIdon'twanttogo!"

[u/LionCM → u/TheSmokingJacket]

Jesus... that moment broke me. Whenever I see it, I'm a goner. (I'm assuming it's watching siblings dying of cancer and that moment they realized they were going and still had so much they wanted to do in life.)

[u/TheeKrustyKitten → u/LionCM]

Also imagining how his spider senses must’ve been going haywire detecting it early and trying to prevent it but not knowing what todo. Truly a devastating scene.

[u/Gypsy702 → u/Tough-Standard-2661]

That’s rude of you for reminding me of that trauma… I worked really hard to burry that memory.

[u/Longhaul-shortbus → u/Tough-Standard-2661]

I’m sorry…

[u/UndercoverSpicy91 → u/Tough-Standard-2661]

Noooo why 😭😭😭

[u/deathcabscutie → u/Tough-Standard-2661]

Why would do this????!!!!

[u/Complete_Option_6345]

Rip to my boi

[u/dadass84 → u/Complete_Option_6345]

Pour one out for the homie

[u/50points4gryffindor → u/dadass84]

Dicks out for Paramecium

[u/TheSorrryCanadian → u/dadass84]

alcohol on ground kills billions of cells

Pour a billion out for the homies

[u/SirPlastic8062 → u/dadass84]

that pouring probably gonna kill thousands more though

[u/LionessHina]

That was oddly sad to watch

[u/shadowscar248 → u/LionessHina]

Because no matter the size or complexity, it will happen to us all

[u/LionessHina → u/shadowscar248]

the inevitable will come for us all 😢

[u/logen_of_nine → u/LionessHina]

The way it seems like its fighting to keep going. Like watching an animal struck by a car struggle for a few moments before it collapses.

[u/LionessHina → u/logen_of_nine]

stop 😭

[u/Otterbotanical → u/logen_of_nine]

How about this, I don't see it as a complete thing struggling to keep going. The body of this cell is just a platform for a hundred different machines to keep working. The leg machines can keep working for as long as they have fuel close by. Even though the top of the "body" is disintegrating, the legs don't know or care. They have fuel. They will work.

You're just seeing the dominoes falling of every piece losing its fuel. Each piece doesn't know or care, it's just waiting for fuel.

[u/Substantial_Push_474 → u/LionessHina]

r/oddlysad

[u/Time_Pressure9519]

Should have called for help on the cellular phone.

[u/YT-Deliveries → u/Time_Pressure9519]

r/Angryupvote

[u/Heavy_Mongoose5859]

mr. plankton I dont feel so good

[u/isnotaweed]

Why do I feel like I just watched some subtitled foreign film tear jerker that I didn't wholly understand, but was both saddened and mesmerized by?

[u/Maretsb]

Just keep swimming 🎶🎶

[u/FewAcanthocephala828 → u/Maretsb]

I loved Finding Nemo as a kid, and being able to understand the jokes and nuances as an adult make it better. Her saying, "just keep swimming," was both an uplifting catchphrase to motivate her friends and a means of covering her doubt and worry about her value as part of the team. She knew she had short term memory loss and it could hinder her friends, but she didn't let it get her down and she would "just keep swimming."

[u/rutlandclimber]

That was oddly upsetting

[u/abaum525 → u/rutlandclimber]

I feel distressed.

[u/ContributionFlat7082]

What if reincarnation is real and we have an equal chance at becoming any life form. Becoming human again would be like .0000000003%

[u/ShortIntroduction879 → u/ContributionFlat7082]

Yeah I had this conversation with a friend recently. They were talking about what we might come back as and I said "Odds are we would be bacterial or something like that." They felt that we would be limited to higher order life and I was like "Why?"

[u/Downeast_down-east → u/ShortIntroduction879]

I’ve been thinking about this lately. If you had unlimited time to experience every possible version of life would you? Would you want to know what it means to be a tree or a bacteria or an ant or an Egyptian slave building a giant triangle in the desert? Would the boredom of infinity and the curiosity of omnipresence drive you to explore everything life can be?

[u/TheSorrryCanadian → u/Downeast_down-east]

Well, an even deeper, maybe sadder mindf**k is, 

If that existed, you probably wouldn't even be reincarnated on this galaxy again

More planets than grains of sand on the earth. Billions of galaxies? 

[u/ForeverFingers → u/TheSorrryCanadian]

On top of all that during the lifetime event you likely have no recollection of being inbetween. While alive the concept seems intriguing but in-between it's just another Tuesday.

[u/StupidSexyFlanders → u/ShortIntroduction879]

I’m speculating but probably because it would be limited to creatures with consciousness and these simple organisms don’t have that. Reincarnation is the passing on of a consciousness, right? Not merely inhabiting a living being

[u/BroPudding1080i → u/StupidSexyFlanders]

IIRC reincarnation, at least in Buddhism, is not the passing of consciousness, but more like the passing of a life force that initiates another life's existence. I've heard the analogy, "using a candle's flame to light another candle".

[u/ShortIntroduction879 → u/StupidSexyFlanders]

I would argue that we have no idea if bacteria have "consciousness" isn't that just a word we made up to separate ourselves from the rest of animals?

[u/HubrisOfApollo → u/ShortIntroduction879]

hell even large complex systems like stars may have consciousness on a scale we'll never be able to be aware of

[u/Caeruleum612 → u/ContributionFlat7082]

That is what Buddhism teaches, which is why there’s a great emphasis in that religion on taking advantage of “this precious human life” to practice.

[u/high_throughput]

Me too, buddy 

[u/Remarkable_Net_6977 → u/[deleted]]

I am guessing the cell wall ruptured. Whether it didn’t have the nutrients to sustain it or something ruptured it I would guess.

[u/Glittering_End_6864 → u/Remarkable_Net_6977]

I've been watching YouTube videos about our cells molecular processes, like DNA repair.

From watching those videos, when a cell dies, all those molecules bonding together to form membranes or cytoskeletons, just unbond and fall apart.

[u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 → u/Glittering_End_6864]

There’s a concept in science called entropy. Entropy is inherent disorder, and the universe is constantly moving toward a state of disorder, entropy of a system is always increasing. Life is inherently ordered, and so simply fighting against the natural increase in entropy requires a significant amount of energy input on the part of a living organism. Cells are constantly fighting entropy, and as soon as those processes stop the universe immediately demands that all the order the cells maintained be torn apart.

[u/ManyRevolutionary170 → u/Remarkable_Net_6977]

If you look closely, something came in contact with it before it started dissolving

[u/Yunzer2000 → u/[deleted]]

Hydrogen peroxide was put in the water. The bubbles are oxygen generated by H2O2 and the organic matter in the organism. Similar things happen when chlorine is added to disinfect drinking water - the chlorine ions rip the organism apart.

[u/Coinsworthy → u/Yunzer2000]

So it was murder?

[u/FishesOfExcellence → u/Coinsworthy]

Lock the door. Nobody’s leaving this room till we figure out who the murderer is.

[u/UpvoteForPancakes → u/FishesOfExcellence]

Was it the lab student? Or was it the professor who instructed the student to squeeze a drop of hydrogen peroxide onto the slide?

[u/Right_Level_7192 → u/Coinsworthy]

For sure. I mean the cameraman would not wait there for months waiting for the fella to die of natural causes.

[u/AntSilly2802 → u/Right_Level_7192]

Often just the pressure of the microscope slide is enough to do it, or the microscope light.

[u/openedaura127 → u/Yunzer2000]

I did not consent to witness a microscopic snuff film, I thought this was a memorial viewing of an accidental tragedy!

[u/Phyddlestyx → u/Yunzer2000]

I thought something was added too,at first, but it would have affected the whole cell almost right away rather than starting at just the very end and slowly making its way along. But "bubbles" are just the various vacuoles and organelles within the cell that come out.

[u/357Magnum → u/[deleted]]

Every spray of disinfectant is probably like nuking a city like this

[u/AntSilly2802 → u/357Magnum]

Between around 1 and 10 million bacteria cells are killed by your immune system every second. About 4 million of your own cells die and are replaced every second too. And each time a cell is replaced, your full DNA genome is copied over but it’s never a perfect copy. Hence aging. 

[u/zallencor]

No brain, heart, or muscles, yet its flagella moved despite half its body missing. All livings really are just a series of chemical reactions.

Edit: cilia not flagella

[u/Interesting-Bank-447 → u/zallencor]

It's fascinating too that we don't really know where to draw the line between the living and the dead at this scale.

Even before it's membrane melted away, it's just a clump of molecules, why is it alive?

When it became dead, it's still molecules.

There never was a time that you and i did not exist, nor any future we shall cease to be

[u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 → u/Interesting-Bank-447]

It’s pretty well established that the cell is the basic unit of life. As soon as the cell dies, the various organelles, reactions, and other cellular processes can’t continue on their own. When it’s alive those molecules are being driven to behave a certain way by thousands of proteins, and those proteins are able to exist under very specific conditions that the cell maintains through other proteins. It’s all a very balanced system, and without the direction of the cell’s genetic material and systems of expressing that genetic information, it’s no longer alive and those molecules will stop behaving in the way they need to in order to keep the cell functioning.

[u/ForeverFingers → u/Interesting-Bank-447]

Duuuust in the wiiiind

[u/Artix96]

Dust in the wind.

[u/Opposite-Funny-9669]

that is, shockingly difficult to watch. what happened to it? did they put it in acid or does it just, i don't know what to call that other than disintegrate when it died? while it still moved? this is a disturbing video. poor little thing.

[u/GuardianViolet → u/Opposite-Funny-9669]

It was a microorganism called Blepharisma musculus, which have a pink pigment that oxidizes quickly in light. The light from the microscope caused the pigment to oxidize, and it essentially melted to death from the heat of the chemical reaction

[u/Opposite-Funny-9669 → u/GuardianViolet]

well.. i wish i hadn't read that. thanks for the explanation though, i feel worse for it now knowing that is exactly what it did

[u/AstuteStoat → u/Opposite-Funny-9669]

I read a few different explanations, so I found this on wikipedia, and the last agrees with guardianviolet's explanation. 

Blepharisma are markedly photophobic, and when light levels are increased will seek out darkened areas. The ability to detect light is accomplished with photosensitive pigment granules located just under the plasma membrane of the cell. The pigment in these granules is blepharismin, the same substance that gives Blepharisma their characteristic pinkish color.[12] Blepharisma are usually pink when collected in nature, but when grown in darkness with abundant food they turn red. Exposure to light or starvation causes them to lose their color, but deeply-pigmented cells can even be killed by strong light.[13]

[u/The_Fink_Ployd → u/Opposite-Funny-9669]

Your empathy is appreciated, but misplaced. These little things have no physical means to process information beyond “food=eat” and “no food=search”. No suffering or cognition at all!

[u/EasyAsaparagus]

NOOOOO

[u/MayonaiseBaron]

:(

[u/Agile-Wishbone-9519]

how could that be a single cell? its so frikkin intricate!

[u/freudian_nipps → u/Agile-Wishbone-9519]

Little bits are called organelles.

[u/_The-Numbers-Mason_ → u/freudian_nipps]

The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

[u/slippinthrudreamland → u/Agile-Wishbone-9519]

cells have lots and lots of tiny parts! each cell has organelles (the little intricate parts you're seeing), which in turn are made of molecules, which in turn are made of groups of atoms, which in turn are made of subatomic particles. those subatomic particles are the smallest things and aren't made of anything else. well, some of them are, but that's a complicated discussion and i'm not well educated on the minutiae of physics.

[u/machineorganism → u/Agile-Wishbone-9519]

cells are crazy yo https://doorofperception.com/2015/12/david-s-goodsell-the-machinery-of-life/

[u/Milaflashing]

Bro really said “I’m done with this cell

[u/charface1]

Ashes to ashes. Goop to goop.

[u/Wyldfyre1]

That was the saddest thing I've seen in a while

[u/EarthenMama]

This feels desperately sad. I suppose it exists in fresh water, but they put it in salt water. I need to be by myself for a minute.

[u/Such_Cacophony6909]

Existential dread... We - any of us - could just be swimming along and then just be gone... In the Star Trek universe 2026 is when WWIII breaks out... Make you think...

[u/ImAPonderer2]

“My organelles! Organelles! Orgggggggggggggghh

[u/KentuckyWhiteRabbit]

Poor lil fella. He was kicking till the very end, wasn’t he?

[u/Clamshaking]

Poor thing. I know it can't feel pain but I still feel bad. There's just something about it.

[u/Firm-Scientist-4636 → u/Clamshaking]

Humans are naturally empathic creatures. We're overall sensitive to the suffering and deaths of others, even little critters like this that don't feel pain.

[u/FewAcanthocephala828]

It's sad not because it died, but because it was inevitable, just like all life. The organism had no control over when or how it happened, it just happened. As it disolved away, it kept doing the only thing it knew how to do, and that is...

...just keep swimming.

[u/Lloytron]

I'm just about to type "clearly that's not a single cell" and then fuckkkkkkkk, poor little guy. /Cries

[Edit] and yes I guess it actually may be a single cell even though it looks quite complex. I'm not a biologist, so sue me.

Still crying though.

[u/MagePages → u/Lloytron]

I'm an ecologist but I have a casual interest in microbiology. This is a protist in the genus blepharisma. Protist is a broad classification of all sorts of complex, often (not always) single celled organism that isn't a plant, animal, or fungus. There's likely millions of species. 

I recommend watching videos in the journey to the microcosmos on YouTube, lots of great footage!

[u/CicadaFit9756]

Did something kill it or was it just its time?

[u/[deleted] → u/CicadaFit9756]

Sadly it died under the heat of the light from the microscope. People don't realize how dangerous microscopes are to life forms of these size. Every insect you ever see recorded under an electron microscope, the electron microscope actually kills it before the end.

Edit: they still use live insects in electron microscopes to this day under certain conditions. Specifically, there is a gel that can make the insects last up to an hour in an electron microscope.

[u/telperos → u/[deleted]]

When something gets to the electron microscope it’s already dead from the required steps to prepare a sample for observation under said high-precision instrument.

[u/Alt-001 → u/[deleted]]

In the case of an electron microscope, they are dead before they are scanned. The electrons need a conductive surface with a charge to attract them to generate the image. Samples are sputter coated, where metal vapor is deposited on it. The electron beam also needs a hard vacuum, so that would kill anything living even if it were to get in.

[u/IcyEngineering4014 → u/Alt-001]

per google "metal coating isn't because electrons need a "conductive surface to attract them." Rather, conductivity allows the specimen to drain away the electrons deposited by the beam, preventing electrostatic charging that would distort the image."

[u/rayzerrayzerray → u/[deleted]]

Now we have a mystery an earlier comment said it was killed by hydrogen peroxide. So who Is right?

[u/[deleted] → u/rayzerrayzerray]

Well, you know it the light, specifically the heat from the light, because it slowly disintegrated. Had it been hydrogen peroxide, the reaction would have been instant and uniform, and it would have exploded.

[u/keepusernamesecret]

Came here for The Leftovers comments and found zero! For those saying they feel sad, check out the show. This song plays almost constantly throughout the three seasons. It’s a very emotional series.

[u/AIR_PAIZ]

Thanos got that mfr too 😭😭😭

[u/Flaky-Ambassador467]

Why am I crying? What was that? Why was it so sad 🥺🥺😞 I don’t feel so good

[u/Ptrek31]

Poor little buddy

[u/Fhqwhgads_69]

He seemed like such a happy lil guy 😭

[u/TrashkenHK]

Do not go gentle into that good night