Simply Science Episode 14: Building a Human

In today's episode, biologist Dr. Hazel Sive of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT tells Adam how cells self-organize to build the three-dimensional structure of humans and other organisms. All tissues and organs in our bodies are characterized by arrangements of cells into particular shapes for specific functions, such as those forming the muscle and blood vessels in our pumping hearts. In fact, our entire three-dimensional body shape — as well as the shape of other multicellular organisms — relies on our cells' abilities to divide, move, and stick together well enough to assemble new structures. Join Adam as he helps illustrate the main principles guiding the development of an embryo, and considers questions about growing organs from scratch in the lab.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Dr. Hazel Sive
• Biology
• Whitehead Institute
• MIT
• Adam Weiss
• Scitable
• Science
• Nature Education
• biomedical
• research
• cells
• organisms