Consider how the invention of the microscope abetted the discovery and categorization of cells
The discovery of cells was a revolution.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzOverview of mint, including its cultivation, culinary and medicinal uses, history and mythology, and appearance under the microscope.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; thumbnail © Universal PicturesJ. Robert Oppenheimer became involved in nuclear research in 1941. His biopic, Oppenheimer, was released in 2023.
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© China News Service/ReutersAfter surveying only a tiny fraction of a deep-sea trench at the bottom of the Diamantina Fracture Zone, a Chinese-led team of researchers counted the remains of 476 individual whales spanning a variety of species.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Animal and plant cells house various types of internal membrane-bound compartments, or organelles. Each type of organelle carries out a specific function.
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Nicholas Davenport/University of Wisconsin-MadisonThis false-color movie, acquired by means of confocal microscopy, illustrates long-range calcium signaling in an embryo of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). In the movie, cells are wounded with a laser (bottom-left), causing them to release signaling molecules that are sensed by adjacent cells. The signals, in addition to changes in tension across the embryo, cause a wave of calcium signaling to spread outward from the wound site. Calcium signaling helps coordinate cellular and tissue responses needed for wound repair in the frog embryo.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Cells are the basic units of life.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.From teeny-tiny ants to 200-ton whales, all members of the animal kingdom are composed of cells.
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: In sixteenth century Europe, the scientific study of life was just beginning. Naturalists and adventurers, traveling in remote regions, sent back descriptions of exotic plants and animals. From this wealth of new knowledge arose a system of classification. Living things were arranged in groups, according to the physical structures they had in common. From elephants to insects living things were placed in this system. But one group of plants and animals escaped the notice of science, because they were too small to be seen. The invention of the microscope revealed this tiny world. A world of countless shapes and sizes. The discovery of these small, yet complete bodies of life, caused a scientific revolution. These tiny living things are called cells.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: In sixteenth century Europe, the scientific study of life was just beginning. Naturalists and adventurers, traveling in remote regions, sent back descriptions of exotic plants and animals. From this wealth of new knowledge arose a system of classification. Living things were arranged in groups, according to the physical structures they had in common. From elephants to insects living things were placed in this system. But one group of plants and animals escaped the notice of science, because they were too small to be seen. The invention of the microscope revealed this tiny world. A world of countless shapes and sizes. The discovery of these small, yet complete bodies of life, caused a scientific revolution. These tiny living things are called cells.
[Music out]
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