How Your Blood Keeps You Alive

Blood is a useful substance, not just for our life, but for our way of thinking. It signifies life, but also accompanies death. It unites those who share it, but in doing so it divides others. It runs hot, it runs cold. Whatever it is we need to describe, blood is there for us to project onto, flowing through us.

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SOURCES:

[SIK_Mephisto]

I think it's worth noting that due to their lack of organelles and DNA red blood cells cannot be hijacked by viruses, something that would be potentially quite devastating since it permeates the whole body moving quickly and exists in such high numbers

[mkellyx]

Thanks for literally putting your blood, sweat, & tears into this channel. It's been a fascinating journey.

[TheOneTrueGesta]

I'm going through chemo for grade 3a, stage 2 Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma, it was found early, was only in one place on my neck, and my last PET Scan was perfectly clear, with nothing found, and an ideal response to the monoclonal antibody treatment. I will be done with my last round in May, the medical team says that I will make a full recovery!🎉

Edit: Wow! Thanks for the support! My end goal is Curative, the main way that I have been struggling is psychologically, I haven't lost any hair or thrown up, mostly just nausea and delirium. I have anxiety and often get overwhelmed by thinking too much

[AtmoPierce]

Philosophy, Art, and Science. A perfect combination.

[chriscraft]

Thank you for mentioning autoimmune disorders and the things can go wrong! Living with it is very difficult and having it acknowledged Is oddly comforting in a way

[AnarchoCatBoyEthan]

I was really surprised when I thought James was giving blood for this show, lmao that it’s from a cat scratch makes a lot more sense. Awesome episode.

[Deeplycloseted]

Blood is amazing. My mind was blown when I was a student 20 years ago, learning about how blood knows when to clot and when not to clot, along with the insane cascade of events and activating or suppressing factors that make it all happen.

Random blood clotting could easily kill you. Inability to clot could also easily kill you. Its a system that has to work, 99.9% of people will never even know it exists before they die.

[WulfgarOpenthroat]

And barely mentioned in passing, the proteins, include amazingly complex and sophisticated things like the Compliment System. Wild nanotechnology, like all proteins, all biology; molecular biology is **mind-blowing.** People often talk of cells as if they're machines, but they're more like cities or factory complexes filled with incredibly complicated systems and machinery and vehicles.

Heck, motor proteins are little mech robots that physically walk along cylindrical roads carrying cargo around every cell in your body. A version of them are also what actually physically make your muscles contract; little protein-motor hands pulling what are essentially ropes.

[retepaskab]

There is a nerve-wracking asynchrony between the chill music and the non-chill way the narrator tries to speak slowly.

[CharlesPaiva-tz]

OBRIGADO POR COMPARTILHAR ESSA RICO CONHECIMENTO

[adam]

Thank you Master of Microscopes, for your donation to the most thought-provoking content I've enjoyed in a while! Thank you, everyone, for working on the content for this channel! Amazing stuff as always!

[georgegach]

This channel is something truly unique... The production quality, writing and narrative, visuals and audio - just phenomenal. Every time I stumble upon this it makes me happy that this exists even though I rarely tune in. Cheers Hank, James, Andrew and Deboki for crafting this <3

[skodovkar]

Thank you my all blood cells for all you do, I promise to keep taking good care of you!

[ranty_fugue]

Great episode! It’s an interesting idea that red blood cells might signal possible infections. My understanding is that the ratio of white to red blood cells is very low. If this is the case, the concept makes a lot of sense: with so many more red blood cells, there would be great advantage to them sounding an alarm to draw in the experts.

[Valcuda]

As someone who enjoys writing stories, I once spent a whole week researching blood! And though I never used most of the information, I don't regret it!
Blood is really interesting! For example, did you know that, milk, saliva, and mucus, are all just filtered blood? It makes sense when you learn about it, but you never really think about it.
Your veins and arteries are basically the supply lines of your body! If something needs resources, just put it in the blood!

Also, did you know your heart rate increases slightly when you breath in. This is because your lungs expand, giving your heart less room for _it_ to expand, so it speeds up slightly to make up for the lost room.

[JDGamer]

I had Aplastic Anemia as a kid so I am acutely aware of the importance of the various blood cell types.When your platelet count is low you bruise and bleed much more easily, when your red blood cell count is low you feel tired and any task is exhausting, and when your white blood cell count is low then you get sick way easier and illnesses that most people brush off become life threatening.

[dreyhawk]

If that was my grandson's blood on the slide you would see a bunch of red blood cells that look like soccer balls instead of donuts. He has a blood disorder called Hereditary Spherocytosis.

[Iurien]

My man really got scratched and, on the way to clean up the wound, paused and said “wait, I know what I can do with this!” And broke out the microscope-

[weinerdad]

Beautiful -- why is the blood flowing in channels on these slides?

[lukestickler]

Hey Journey To The Microcosmos team! I really loved this video & i have a request for you guys! I am currently a PharmD student at the University of Cincinnati and have always loved your micro vids. I'm hopeful to have a future in infectious disease one day.

I was wondering if one day we could get a video on "eye floaters"? For many - like myself - who suffer with this visual anomaly, it is hard to show others what it is like. The microscopy that you guys all showcase - with its clear, bulbous cellular life - is always very reminiscent of what floaters look like. I think it would be very awesome to shed some light on people who live with floaters, and describe for the public what exactly an eye floater is.

Thanks!
Luke