Scientists discover a new form and it could be inside you right now

The cells of our body are assembled in all sorts of weird ways. The cells of the neurons have long branched connections to other cells, the bones form porous structures and the blood vessels float freely around the body. But many cells are simply clustered as closely as possible, and scientists have determined that these particular cells come in a unique and unknown form, called "scutoid".

Much of our bodies are covered with epithelial cells, which are cells designed to stick very closely together to form a certain type of barrier or wall. Our skin cells are epithelial cells, just like the cells that form the walls of many of our organs. One of the most important functions of these cells is to keep things inside or outside the areas that surround them, so the formation of a watertight wall is of paramount importance.

So what form do these cells take? Most scientists previously believed that these cells had the shape of simple cylinders, but new research suggests that they take on a more complicated form. Researchers from the University of Seville have performed a computer simulation to determine the most effective form and their simulation has unfolded on a strange form of prism.

The shape has six sides at the top and five sides at the bottom, and one of the sides had a triangular protrusion. Basically, this form – which scientists have called the "scutoid" after the scutellum similarly named and shaped as a beetle – actually stacks much better than a simple cylinder.

But just because a computer says it's the best form doesn That means that all that nature actually uses, researchers looked at the cells of fruit flies and zebrafish to see if the scutoid appears in the epithelial tissue of these animals. For their pleasure, this was the case. They are not sure that these scutoid-shaped cells exist in humans, but there is a good chance.

In addition to discovering what epithelial cells look like, these researchers have also discovered a new form of mathematics. Mathematical discoveries are often very abstract but can often have an impact in other areas of science or engineering. So, Scaroids are only in your body right now, but eventually we could start seeing them appear everywhere.

Source: Nature Communications