A Blog Around The Clock

Rube-Goldberg Cascades of Molecular Reactions

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RPM found this on The Disgruntled Chemist’s blog: the most awesome Rube-Goldberg machine I have ever seen. Much better than the one built by the Mythbusters guys. Just follow this link and watch the movie!
RPM complains that it does not appear to actually do anything, but, who cares? The thing is so intricate! Think of it this way – this is a metaphor for a cell: the (circadian) clock sounds an alarm and as a result a large number of molecular interactions occur resulting, in the end, in the opening of the curtain an ion channel.
I have already mentioned here, here and here that a Rube-Goldberg machine is a better metaphor for the circadian mechanism than the Clock, but it is also a better metaphor for all things intracellular as well: one biochemical reaction leading to another, to another, to another….

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