HOW DOES A CELL KNOW WHAT TO DO? HOW DOES IT KNOW WHERE IT IS? HOW DOES THE CELL KNOW IT BELONGS? WELL...HOW DO YOU?
CELLS
Let’s imagine a typical morning, an ordinary routine for many of us. As you are getting ready to start your day, whether it is school or work, or any other responsibility you are about to take on, you stand in front of the mirror and look at yourself. Is my hair okay? Do I look presentable? I need to brush my teeth. I should hide my dry skin and puffy eyes. A shower. Clean clothes. Should I wear this neon pink sweater? Perhaps it is too much. I got a lot of attention last time I wore it and I felt as if I am in the spotlight. Awkward. Let’s go with something more acceptable. Beige will do. Better polish my shoes. Put some perfume on. Last check in the mirror. Good to go. The obligatory “hellos” and “how was your weekend?”. You are polite. Not that necessarily you enthusiastically care about your fellow colleagues’ mundanities. No. Not at all. But naturally you feel as if that makes you part of the normality. That is just something you do to...belong. The lunches, chit-chats, and nods, awkward smiles and handshakes and eye contact. Too much? Weird. Not at all? Weird. Wrong. It is in the social nuances, the art of balancing between politeness and distance, being involved and minding your own business. Having an opinion, but constantly checking whether it is okay to think that way by receiving the influx of acceptance or rejection waves from the society. Being confident, but not too much. Like an acrobat balancing on a wire to perform in front of the audience. One wrong move and it could result in a disaster. A risky and right move? Gasps and applause. The microscopic world is almost identical to the macroscopic one. Just like you check whether you “fit in”, so do cells. Let’s take the example of a heart cell- how does it know that it indeed is a heart cell? Well, it is called cellto-cell communication, and that is an essential function of all