so uhhhhhh i know this is a plant blog but realtalk lads im a little freaked out by that wild ass new organ discovered in our bodies according to a paper published literally yesterday am i right my lads, my bois, lmao hhaha
(as of 3/28/2018, paper was published in the reputable international research journal “Nature” on 3/27/2018, publication here, study was started in 2013) ok so like uhhh this is my rough translation of the paper they published using my current level of biological knowledge, if anyone else has a more in depth understanding with human anatomy things and would like to add on with anything i might have missed feel free to add but this is my takeaway:
-scientists were looking at some stuff in the inside of a bile duct they were studying in a live patient (this will be important later) using a laser that lets them see the cells in real time. they injected some stuff into the duct and saw the spaces inbetween the cells fill up with fluid in strange, tube-like structures that didn’t correspond with what they expected to be there, so they sectioned and froze them to study them closer; they realized that upon closer inspection, the fluid-filled places were VERY small collagen tubes forming a complex matrix of bundles surrounded by a weird cell covering that seemed to connect them to one another. they called this the Interstitium.
-they sectioned some more places where squeezy things might happen, like the inner linings of the bladder, lungs, lymph nodes, and the soft tissue enclosing our muscles, filled them with the same indicator, and hyper froze them like they did to the first sample and found the same weird matrix of fluid-filled tubing:
they concluded from what they found from this that:
1. our previous thought of the space inbetween the cells in these parts of the body, which we thought were just kinda like, there or whatever doing nothing (a series of spaces that were already called the Interstitium that were largely ignored), are actually full of complex tubing running through a ton of very important parts of your body
2. when the structures they’re chilling around (like your bladder and bowel) contract, the fluid moves around all weird
3. the reason this wasn’t discovered before is because when the tubes are squished too hard- like when scientists are cutting into them- they have a tendency to collapse really easily,especially when being treated with chemicals for microscope use, giving the impression of the kind of tissues that we’ve traditionally seen in specimens and thought of being in these sensitive areas (closely compact and dense cell mats). it turns out that in living people, these tubes run between the cells carrying fluid; the scientists were able to see this initially in live patients using the above mentioned laser technology, and then took live biopsies by quickly freezing the cells in place before removal to prevent their collapse.
4. yes, these can move cancer cells around, which is HUGE seeing as they seem to enclose a LOT of important and delicate muscles in our bodies in one giant, complex system. when they looked at it in cancer patients, the tumors they found seemed to kind of be….leaking….into them…..because the tumors were putting pressure on the fluid tubes….which easily collapse…..and move things that fall into the fluid around….
5. the scientists also explored things like hernias and colon damage in relation to these, but unfortunately this is where my translation powers run out as non-plant-related terminology starts being used lmao im so sorry im like this
tl;dr: the membranes that surround some really important parts of squishy things like our stomach, bowels, colon, lungs, muscles, etc are full of very delicate and complex tubing that runs in a weirdly complex system to other important squishy things throughout our bodies and looks like a weird organ that we didn’t know was there before (or like, we knew about it, we just didn’t know it was so…connected and uh…organy). also it seems to have an impact on the spread of cancer throughout these regions
Graduate of Biomedical Science here; this paper is pretty much understandable to me.
You’ve picked out the main stuff, but here’s some things I think is very interesting:
The discovery of these spaces dramatically expands the lymphatic system. Basically, this is how the lymph nodes are connected to the rest of the body. Before it was kinda like ‘yeah here are the lymph nodes, and the lymph fluid kinda goes to the somehow? idk’. But now we have a whole system. It’s like discovering the entire circulatory system when before you only had the heart to work with.
This is super important for cancers and detecting when a cancer has spread (metastasised, in the lingo). They talk about the spread of cancers into the deeper tissues (such as stomach cancers invading their submucosal tissue and skin cancers pentrating deeper into the dermis layers), but what is most important is that they detected the cancers spreading into the interstitial spaces before there was anything to detect within the lymph nodes. This is super important, as usually lymph node biopsies are done to detect if a cancer is spreading; this is before that very stage. This is literally catching cancers in the act of spreading before they’ve hit another organ this is fucking incredible.
It’s providing an explanation for oedema (or edema, for my US followers), which is the build-up of fluid in certain areas of the body (usually the lower limbs, but it can be anywhere). For so long it’s been like ‘I guess there’s something wrong with your blood vessels??’ but like the lymphatic system, we’ve now got another explanation. ‘Ah, okay, there’s something going down in your interstitial fluid!’ A more effective diagnosis and treatment could be made, Bam! Enrich more people’s lives.
They may play a role in how scar formation works. Some scar tissue can get a bit crazy and grow too much, meaning it needs to be cut away as it hinders movement or it just fucking painful. Perhaps the interstitial tubing/fluid plays a role in this, considering collagen is used in scar tissue, and these spaces are full of it.
There’s clearly communication between these spaces and the digestive system, as they found tattoo pigment from the intestines in these spaces. Tattooing in the intestine is done to mark lesions for removal or observation later on, so the fact this pigment is actively moving out of the digestive system and else means it could play a role in disease we don’t know much about, like inflammatory bowel conditions.
Basically, THIS IS FUCKING HUGE AND COULD POTENTIALLY CHANGE THE GAME IN A BIG WAY.
Thank you OP for sharing this, I haven’t nerded out and been so fascinated by a study in a long time.
ALSO GOOD ON YOU NATURE FOR MAKING THE FULL ARTICLE FREE. HONOUR ON YOU AND YOUR COWS.
y’all didn’t even add a tutorial of how to do this so imma put one right here
1. type in cmd.exe into your windows search and right click on Command Promt search result and select “Run as Administator”. 2. Type/Copypase in
net.exe stop “Windows Search” and make sure Windows Search is in quotations. It should then respond saying “The Windows Search service is stopping” and then tell you it’s stopped.
This is only a temp fix though, if you want it switched off permanently then do THIS:
1. Press the Windows key + R at the same time and type in services.msc.
2. Scroll until you find Windows Search and double click it to enter its Properties window.
3. Change the Startup type to Disabled. Apply this change and you can exit out.
Climate change is a capitalism problem, not an individual problem.
In science communication you hear about “natural frequencies” and communicating large numbers.
People’s minds shut down when you try to feed them numbers. No matter how good they are at adding up their grocery bill, if you try to get someone to comprehend the weight and meaning of a billion, they just nod along blankly, with a teakettle whistling sound happening behind their eyes. A shut-down mind can’t receive your message. And often a mind will do a preliminary shutdown if you make it feel Bad or Guilty.
That’s a huge, huge problem with trying to communicate science. Especially the science that needs to enter people’s brains to give us a hope of survival. Especially in a political climate in which people genuinely feel that they can pick which facts to believe in, and dismiss competing facts as conspiracy theories.
That’s why one should express scientific concepts and Big Numbers in ways that people will recognise and understand. For maximum impact, use things that people can immediately visualise. Say, “in a room full of 100 people, three of them are at risk.” Say, “this could fill a football field.” Say, “the dinosaur was the size of a golden retriever.” Say, “if you got in your car and drove, this distance would take a week to cover.” Say, “that amount of money would be like you and everyone you know having an extra £500 in your bank account every month.”
The first article linked in the OP is by The Guardian. And it has a splendid example of this.
It tells you that the decision-makers of climate change – the people holding the reins – the humans responsible for 2/3 of the planet’s emissions – “could fit on one or two Greyhound buses.”
If you have the space, just allow that mental image some headroom for a bit.
Climate change feels so big that maybe you feel that it’s hopeless; you could never do anything about it; you didn’t even recycle that plastic fork. The neoliberal idea is that everyone else is your enemy – that everyone else (those fuckers) is eating up your future, and it can’t be stopped because you can’t stop All Humans. You picture all those hungry mouths jostling and competing and gobbling, and perhaps complain edgily about overpopulation, thinking that the Unstoppable Greed of Humanity Is Ushering Us All To Our Inevitable End. In this worldview (which is rather deliberately inculcated) everyone is responsible, and everyone has failed. The insidious idea is that destruction is a key part of humanity (those fuckers) and obviously your horrible neighbors are GOING to water their lawn anyway, so we all deserve to die horribly together, as the punch line for some meta-SF novel. Or maybe you’re a vegan and If Everyone Else Was Too Then We’d All Be Saved, but they’re not, so in the meantime you can prance about explaining this at length on social media, which probably feels amazing? Or something. I don’t know, I don’t really read those subreddits and I’m not on Insta, but they’re extremely common reactions. And of course plenty of people have conveniently decided that it isn’t a problem at all, which is a brilliant decision because they’re obviously untroubled by any speculation.
So perhaps sit with this image instead. Of the decision-makers fitting on two Greyhound buses. That isn’t All Humanity. That’s 90 corporations. A few dozen people. They’re the ones doing it (although they’re quite happy for you to be An Jaded Vegan ™ or to perpetuate Overpopulation Discourse ™ – both are so marvellously distracting and enjoyable – bread and circuses.)
While we run about in a panic forgetting to carry canvas shopping bags, and furiously glaring at our neighbors for leaving their engines running? That handful of people could change the world with remarkably little inconvenience; they just rather prefer not to.
In conclusion – by all means eat mindfully, and limit your consumption, and strategically place your canvas bags in places where you’ll remember to grab them. But when you feel yourself blaming The Humans for the next wave of nebulous fear and panic about the future: stop it. And think of those greyhound buses instead.
Hi, yes… I would like to place a hit on a corporation?
It’s ape fucking wild to me how many RedLetterMedia gifs/images have prominence on tumblr, and yet it’s so clear by the numbers of blogs and on posts that not many people actually watch the videos.
Like… so many of you people don’t realize that this kid
There’s this weird culture of telling kids when they stress about school “u ain’t seen nothin yet hun! Wait till u do tax returns! Hahaha adulthood is fucking hell!” And i hate it b/c
1) it’s flat out untrue. Adulthood is a breeze compared to school. I have time to myself to do what I find fun and can make my own choices. Like, yeah, I’m poor and have to take care of myself, but the central activity of my life– work – is waaaaaay easier than school, mentally and emotionally.
2) Part of the reason school made me anxious to the point of considering suicide is that I had this wrong idea, drilled into my head by YEARS of people saying this, that if I didn’t do well in school, I would be a useless member of society, unable to be productive or do anything meaningful. Failing a class meant I might as well be dead. That’s the false equivalence this culture creates. But grades don’t mean SHIT in the workforce unless you’re trying to become a college professor or do something that requires a hella advanced degree.
3) it helps no one to say this! All it does is give mentally ill children, most of whom are already struggling to get through the DAY, the idea that it will only get much, much worse. I know I couldn’t cope with that thought. Any future planning past my 20s was blocked out in a haze of terror at the thought of having to persevere that long, only to get a shittier situation at the end. But it’s not shittier. I have to be more responsible, but this is a piece of goddamn cake compared to even High School. The only reason to say this to a teenager is to inflate your own sense of superiority over someone who is still learning how the world works.
So like. Can we kill this culture? Please?
Honestly, all of this. Being a teenager comes with far more restrictions and expectations than being an adult. There is nothing to fear from adulthood. There are people and programs to help you with things like taxes, housing, and managing your finances. You will no longer have a set time you have to be in bed. You can eat whatever you want for breakfast. You can leave the house at 2 a.m. to buy candy. Go out and adopt a pet. Fill the living room with styrofoam packing peanuts. No one can tell you not to.
And you know what? IT’S OKAY TO FAIL SOMETIMES. It’s okay to lose a job: Most of the people you’ll meet in life have lost a job at least once before. It doesn’t make you any less of a person–or even a bad worker–and you CAN move past it.
Your future is up to you, but pursue it at whatever speed feels the most comfortable for you. Just remember never to lose your sense of wonder and adventure.
Taxes are fucking trivial, and anybody who thinks they’re harder than schoolwork has clearly not been inside a classroom for a minimum of fifty years. Work is often tough and tiring while you’re in it, but when you clock out and go home you’re fucking *done*, and now you get to do anything else with the rest of the day and weekends, instead of having this eternal grind of homework and studying hanging over you. There’s less of a support structure as an adult and the consequences of seriously fucking up are more severe, but the basic responsibilities are way lighter (until and unless you become a parent or join the military or something).
My life got a lot better once I graduated. I fondly remember that first summer when I realized I actually had time to reconnect with my hobbies instead of constantly doing assigned reading and studying and homework and stressing about assignments in the future and and and
Marshmellowmilktea 