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Damn... And proteins are not living organisms, but the video makes them look like autonomous agents and even states thing like "the virus recruits new proteins"

by yazzku 2y ago

Damn... And proteins are not living organisms, but the video makes them look like autonomous agents and even states thing like "the virus recruits new proteins". Is this mostly an anthropomorphization of the events, or did I miss the relevant episode of biology?

nwiswell 2y ago
> Is this mostly an anthropomorphization of the events Yes. Basically everything is bumping around until the desired reaction or configuration is obtained. The irrelevant proteins are generally not shown. The length scales involved are extremely short so the chaotic soup works itself into configuration shockingly quickly. There are also membranes, vesicles, and organelles (e.g. Golgi) that partition, package, and redistribute proteins so that they tend to be more concentrated where required.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
  > Basically everything is bumping around until the desired reaction or configuration is obtained. Dare I say it? That sounds alot like what we do in the office most of the time.
  - gravescale 2y ago
    "Employing an bio-mimic evolutionary compilation algorithm" does sound better than "changing things semi-randomly until it compiles and passes the tests".
op00to 2y ago
Protein folding freaks me out too.
dqv 2y ago
This post or something similar has been posted to HN before: http://www.righto.com/2011/07/cells-are-very-fast-and-crowded-places.html?m=1 http://www.righto.com/2011/07/cells-are-very-fast-and-crowde... It makes a lot more sense when described from this perspective: >You may wonder how things get around inside cells if they are so crowded. It turns out that molecules move unimaginably quickly due to thermal motion. A small molecule such as glucose is cruising around a cell at about 250 miles per hour, while a large protein molecule is moving at 20 miles per hour. Note that these are actual speeds inside the cell, not scaled-up speeds. I'm not talking about driving through a crowded Times Square at 20 miles per hour; to scale this would be more like driving through Times Square at 20 million miles per hour! >Because cells are so crowded, molecules can't get very far without colliding with something. In fact, a molecule will collide with something billions of times a second and bounce off in a different direction. Because of this, molecules are doing a random walk through the cell and diffusing all around. A small molecule can get from one side of a cell to the other in 1/5 of a second. >As a result of all this random motion, a typical enzyme can collide with something to react with 500,000 times every second. Watching the video, you might wonder how the different pieces just happen to move to the right place. In reality, they are covering so much ground in the cell so fast that they will be in the "right place" very frequently just by chance.

by yazzku 2y ago

nwiswell 2y ago

> Is this mostly an anthropomorphization of the events Yes. Basically everything is bumping around until the desired reaction or configuration is obtained. The irrelevant proteins are generally not shown. The length scales involved are extremely short so the chaotic soup works itself into configuration shockingly quickly. There are also membranes, vesicles, and organelles (e.g. Golgi) that partition, package, and redistribute proteins so that they tend to be more concentrated where required.

NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
> Basically everything is bumping around until the desired reaction or configuration is obtained. Dare I say it? That sounds alot like what we do in the office most of the time.
- gravescale 2y ago
  "Employing an bio-mimic evolutionary compilation algorithm" does sound better than "changing things semi-randomly until it compiles and passes the tests".

op00to 2y ago

Protein folding freaks me out too.

dqv 2y ago

This post or something similar has been posted to HN before: http://www.righto.com/2011/07/cells-are-very-fast-and-crowded-places.html?m=1 http://www.righto.com/2011/07/cells-are-very-fast-and-crowde... It makes a lot more sense when described from this perspective: >You may wonder how things get around inside cells if they are so crowded. It turns out that molecules move unimaginably quickly due to thermal motion. A small molecule such as glucose is cruising around a cell at about 250 miles per hour, while a large protein molecule is moving at 20 miles per hour. Note that these are actual speeds inside the cell, not scaled-up speeds. I'm not talking about driving through a crowded Times Square at 20 miles per hour; to scale this would be more like driving through Times Square at 20 million miles per hour! >Because cells are so crowded, molecules can't get very far without colliding with something. In fact, a molecule will collide with something billions of times a second and bounce off in a different direction. Because of this, molecules are doing a random walk through the cell and diffusing all around. A small molecule can get from one side of a cell to the other in 1/5 of a second. >As a result of all this random motion, a typical enzyme can collide with something to react with 500,000 times every second. Watching the video, you might wonder how the different pieces just happen to move to the right place. In reality, they are covering so much ground in the cell so fast that they will be in the "right place" very frequently just by chance.