Biology is a Burrito: A text- and visual-based journey through a living cell

Life is amazing. Can anyone recommend good modern starting points to someone who would want to learn more about how living beings work (from bottom up)? It has been a while since I actively delved into Biology (my school days).

	▲	morphle an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The research into the origen of life looks at bottom up fundamentals (how they work) of all cells since the solar system was formed. You could start with the slides in this lecture and read the underlying papers and all the references in all those papers. You probably can find these references also in all the books he wrote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBiIDwBOqQA Maybe an educational text for the laymen has summarised this recently but I'm not aware of one. Most Biology from your school days have been rewritten. I will have to re-read Molecular Biology of the Cell, 7th Edition, 2022. I read the 3th edition and it has changed dramatically since. You can download it on Anna's Archive or order it at the usual suspects https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Molecular+Biology+of+the+Cell%2C+...
	▲	Milpotel an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I can recommend "The song of the cell" as a starting point. If you prefer textbooks, maybe "Life: The Science of Biology". I have a translated non-english copy and besides some math issues it's a nice overview, but I'm not a biologist.

▲

ggm 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Lets hear it for Van der Waals forces! Go team!

The painting is wonderful. Yes, it's a snapshot in time of a dynamic state. All paintings are!

▲

bhagyeshsp 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What a beautiful depiction. Reminds me of high fidelity 3D animation videos I used to watch about DNA replication, cell signalling etc.

One of the most fascinating parts to me was DNA transcription. The engineering is quite precise.

Found the video I was referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk9jct2ozY

▲

ofrzeta 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Looks fascinating. Related: The Machinery of Life https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-387-84925-6 (actually it is the book of the person who drew the first illustration in the article but I could not see any mention of the book).

	▲	bhagyeshsp 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Wow, aptly named "The Machinery of Life".

▲

gavmor 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ugh, makes my skin crawl, it's so chaotic! And delicate-looking!

▲

AnonC 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's a wonder that cells get anything done at all.

> The first time I did these calculations, I felt an intense appreciation for biology. And now, I want everyone else to feel the same. We ought to teach students of biology to think as mathematicians: to carefully quantify biology, to think in absolute units, and to develop a feeling for the organism.

It was interesting to read this article, but I think I would’ve understood a lot more if this entire piece had been (or were) an animated video that described it. Text and a few animations don’t do enough justice for the passion, knowledge and detail that’s in this article, IMO.

▲

brudgers 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Logically that the burrito metaphor can explain monads, implies that the burrito metaphor can explain biology.

▲

ggm 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Lets hear it for Van der Waals forces! Go team!