Scientists from the University of Seville were delighted when the computer model completely coincided with what they saw in the structure of the cells and fish of Danio. This is a fundamentally new stable geometric structure, which was called “Skutoid”. And if the calculations are correct, in the body of people their countless.
Almost all cells in the body of higher creatures have a very different shape. Neurons are similar to radiant stars, red blood cells – disks floating in the blood, the bones are similar to the wrong porous honeycombs. What does the epithelium look like? The most common fabric performs simultaneously the function of the barrier and the connecting element between other parts of the body. And she should have a very dense, resistant structure.
Seville scientists conducted computer modeling in search of the optimal shape for “brick cells” in such a wall from the epithelium. And they received it – Skutoid. A voluminous polyhedron, which has a flat base and a peak interconnected by six faces on one side and only five on the opposite. To do this, Skutoid has a characteristic triangular ledge, which makes its shape fundamentally different from the “crumpled” cylinder.
Skutoids are better than all voluminous forms we know in dense structures. And what the computer showed on the monitor, scientists then saw in microscopes when studying real animal tissues. With a high probability they are in the human body. This is immediately a double discovery – in the field of mathematics and biology! And, perhaps, progress in other areas, for example, if we learn to build the most durable walls from bricks-whales in the bricks.
Source — Nature