Biology is a Burrito: A text- and visual-based journey through a living cell
40 points
1 hour ago
| 3 comments
| burrito.bio
| HN
▲
bhagyeshsp
1 hour ago
[-]
What a beautiful depiction. Reminds me of high fidelity 3D animation videos I used to watch about DNA replication, cell signalling etc.

One of the most fascinating parts to me was DNA transcription. The engineering is quite precise.

Found the video I was referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk9jct2ozY

reply
▲
ofrzeta
1 hour ago
[-]
Looks fascinating. Related: The Machinery of Life https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-387-84925-6 (actually it is the book of the person who drew the first illustration in the article but I could not see any mention of the book).
reply
▲
bhagyeshsp
30 minutes ago
[-]
Wow, aptly named "The Machinery of Life".
reply
▲
brudgers
48 minutes ago
[-]
Logically that the burrito metaphor can explain monads, implies that the burrito metaphor can explain biology.
reply
▲
AnonC
1 hour ago
[-]
> It's a wonder that cells get anything done at all.

> The first time I did these calculations, I felt an intense appreciation for biology. And now, I want everyone else to feel the same. We ought to teach students of biology to think as mathematicians: to carefully quantify biology, to think in absolute units, and to develop a feeling for the organism.

It was interesting to read this article, but I think I would’ve understood a lot more if this entire piece had been (or were) an animated video that described it. Text and a few animations don’t do enough justice for the passion, knowledge and detail that’s in this article, IMO.

reply