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May. 25th, 2005 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingOn the topic of "cool", we have a living, human-derived extraordinarily voracious vaguely amoeboid life.
Helacyton gartleri: derived from cervical cancer cells taken from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, who died in 1951, and circulated (without Lacks's knowledge or permission) by George Gey. These cancer cells are considered "immortal" (that is, they do not die of old age and can divide an unlimited number of times, unlike most other human cells), and have been grown in cell culture in an unbroken lineage ever since.
Some researchers have argued that these cells are a separate species, because they reproduce and spread on their own; in 1991 it was named and described as Helacyton gartleri.
Speciation rules.
Helacyton gartleri: derived from cervical cancer cells taken from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, who died in 1951, and circulated (without Lacks's knowledge or permission) by George Gey. These cancer cells are considered "immortal" (that is, they do not die of old age and can divide an unlimited number of times, unlike most other human cells), and have been grown in cell culture in an unbroken lineage ever since.
Some researchers have argued that these cells are a separate species, because they reproduce and spread on their own; in 1991 it was named and described as Helacyton gartleri.
Speciation rules.