Page 44 - through Clusters and Networks

From Pieces

to the Whole

Self-organization manifests itself in many ways among the living beings. An
archetype of this can be observed in the process where an organism can
regenerate its body parts and at times the whole itself. Greek myths talks of
Hydra the monster that could regrow its severed head but this phenomenon
can even be observed in a tiny aquatic primitive organism (also called Hydra).
It is somewhat a miniature of the fictitious monster from Greek myths perhaps
or maybe even predecessor to the same who may have inspired the legend.

Hydra has an unreal ability to rejoin its cells and form into original self again
from its own mash. Planarian, a little flat worm, also an aquatic being,
possesses a similar ability where a piece of its body regenerates into a whole
new planarian.

The magic that powers this process lies in the fact that unlike complex beings,
regenerative stem cells (blank building blocks that can specialize into any
type of cell) are the only dividing cells in these organisms. Therefore, in case
of a wound or severance of a body part, these blanks get called into action and
are able to regenerate the part into its original form. These blanks (stem cells)
are known as Neoblasts in Planarian and Intestitial cells (I-cells) in Hydra. It
was interesting to observe, their acrobatic body movements over hours
through the microscope. Hydra can stretch and squeeze its body up to seven

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