Tuesday, 15 February 2011


Inorganic growth: Calcification





Cancellous bone is characterised by a honeycomb arrangement, comprising a network of trabeculae (rod-shaped tissue). These structures provide support and strength to the bone. The spaces within this tissue contain bone marrow (not seen), a blood forming substance.








The surface of the cementless ESKA Endoprostheses is a three-dimensional grid structure that has been adapted to the structure of the cancellous bone and affords vascularisation of the bone. The dimensions – structural height and web thickness – of this interconnecting surface are part of the technical specifications and are therefore reproducable. The structure and the implant core are manufactured in a one-piece homogeneous casting process. Primary stability is achieved by press-fit, long-term stability is achieved by bony integration. This three-dimensional web structure has been successfully applied for more than 25 years.












A three-dimensional synchrotron computed-tomography image of a 4-millimeter-cube of trabecular bone from the vertebra interior of a 30-year-old female shows bone of normal density and architecture. A significant number of trabeculae and platelike structures are aligned in the load-bearing direction.

Inorganic matter







Emergence: Organic precedents





Biology Professor Emeritus John Bonner's microscope films show the curiously collective nature of slime molds. A plasmodial slime mould involves numerous individual cells attached to each other, forming one large membrane. This "supercell" (a syncytium) is essentially a bag of cytoplasm containing thousands of individual nuclei. By contrast, cellular slime moulds spend most of their lives as individual unicellular protists, but when a chemical signal is secreted, they assemble into a cluster that acts as one organism.






Engineers learn from slime moulds

The way fungus-like slime moulds grow could help engineers design wireless communication networks. Scientists drew this conclusion after observing a slime mould as it grew into a network that was almost identical to the Tokyo rail system. The single amoeboid cells of slime moulds fuse and spread into a network as they feed and grow...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8473316.stm


Slime Molds Are Earth’s Smallest, Oldest Farmers

Work in Progress Show: Test Model



Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)