Animations of unseeable biology | Drew Berry | TED
TED7 HN recommenders · recommended in 7 months, 2017–2025
talk · general · evergreen · 2017–2025 on HN
Drew Berry shows scientifically accurate animations of molecular processes inside cells, such as DNA replication, at TEDxSydney.
HN recommends it for mind-blowing visuals that make cell biology tangible.
Up next
2 mo on HNSpaceX's plan to fly you across the globe in 30 minutes | Gwynne Shotwell
TED
2 HN recommender · 2018–2025
1 mo on HNEEVblog #1341 - AMAZING $250,000 IBM Processor TEARDOWN!
EEVblog
1 HN recommend · 2021–2022
6 mo on HNMoleman 2 - Demoscene - The Art of the Algorithms (2012)
Vakondok (Moleman)
6 HN recommender · 2015–2023
1 mo on HNYour Body's Molecular Machines
Veritasium
1 HN recommend · 2022–2023
5 mo on HNHow one tweet can ruin your life | Jon Ronson
TED
5 HN recommender · 2018–2025
9 mo on HNMike Monteiro: F*ck You, Pay Me
CreativeMornings HQ
12 HN recommender · 2015–2026
11 mo on HNWhat Bodies Think About: Bioelectric Computation Outside the Nervous System - NeurIPS 2018
The Artificial Intelligence Channel
12 HN recommender · 2018–2024
9 mo on HNJoe Rogan Experience #1035 - Paul Stamets
PowerfulJRE
10 HN recommender · 2017–2025
8 mo on HNDEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome
DEFCONConference
11 HN recommender · 2017–2023
8 mo on HNDNA animation (2002-2014) by Drew Berry and Etsuko Uno wehi.tv #ScienceArt
WEHImovies
9 HN recommender · 2020–2026
7 mo on HNI Genetically Engineered *MYSELF* to Fix Lactose Intolerance
The Thought Emporium
8 HN recommender · 2018–2026
7 mo on HNmRNA Translation (Advanced)
DNA Learning Center
4 HN recommender · 2014–2025
7 comments from Hacker News
This reminds me of the amazing molecular animations of Drew Berry, which he showed in this TED talk: ▶ this video Which was 12 years ago! After watching that video, I had a much greater appreciation for how our bodies are made up of trillions of tiny protein machines. Fascinating stuff!!
Slightly off-topic, but this semi-animation of DNA replication machine that is working right now in your body (in amounts of trillions of devices) blew my mind few months ago. from TED: ▶ this video
Sorry for being a bit off-topic. Biology wasn't my forte in high school, I wish I had read this article back then link and seen that video (9:08 min) ▶ this video
On the topic of 'scientifically accurate animations of biological processes'. You may know of these videos, but I thought these might be worth sharing for others interested in this topic: Here is a TEDTalk by Drew Berry: Animations of unseeable biology. (uploaded in 2012) ▶ this video Here is also a more recent video by Veritasium on YT that also talks about these animations. (uploaded in 2017) link
Drew Berry creates similar animations and refers to them (in this talk) as "accurate representations", but doesn't go into much detail. Interesting history in the beginning as well. ▶ this video
If you liked this video, also check out this one: Inner Life of the Cell link And here's a nice TED talk by Drew Berry: Animations of unseeable biology ▶ this video These kind of visualizations are of course an idealized view on how it works. As others have already mentioned, the processes are hugely chaotic and much more probabilistic than deterministic. On this scale everything is just one huge wobbling soup of things crashing into each other, which makes it even more fascinating that it works as well as it does.
▶ this video ^My favorite way I've seen it described, and also a really cool video even without the subtext. (but ya this is one rabbit hole that I've yet to travel down. guess i took the blue pill, but more pills just seemed unnecessary at the time)