I had a post about a marvellous video on mitosis. Recently, Inkling Magazine has published an interview with the creator of the video, a biochemistry graduate student, Ben Engel. He thought he would bring music and life and drama to the otherwise rather dull process of cell division, or mitosis. More than 5000 pople have viewed it so far.

“I was kind of mulling around the idea of doing some kind of synchronized swimming with mitosis and then, just looking down at the swimming pool one day, it all clicked,” says Engel. He wrangled 12 of his classmates and persuaded them to don bathing suits, color-coded caps and spend the afternoon splashing around in an aquatic reenactment of cell biology. And splash they did. Three of the six swimming “chromosomes” could not swim and had to rely on pool noodle “microtubules” for support as they were pulled to opposite ends of the “cell” by strong-armed “centrioles”.

We need innovative students like him!

Image: Ben Engel