r/interesting • u/freudian_nipps • 16d ago

NATURE Death of a single-celled organism

22.7k Upvotes

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649

u/The-odd-one-out 16d ago

Awww he lost all his bubbles :(

138

u/SudoMadeMeDoIt 16d ago

I wonder what killed it.

224

u/Katops 16d ago

Apparently the heat of the light.

https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/s/ShPfW2h6xs

186

u/Alt-001 16d ago

This is one way, another is lack of oxygen. Typically they will live for a while in the water droplet under the microscope slide, but once they use up the disolved oxygen they start to fall apart because they don't have the energy to keep themselves together.

37

u/einTier 16d ago

A literal come apart.

3

u/RaDiOaCtIvEpUnK 16d ago

What a drama queen. It’s a tiny bit harder to breathe and the dude falls apart.

13

u/toomanyshoeshelp 16d ago

me without coffee

9

u/CryptoRoast_ 16d ago

"they don't have the energy to keep themselves together"

me too single celled organism, me too.

7

u/Awkward-Winner-99 16d ago

Why do they need oxygen to not desintegrate?

13

u/Alt-001 16d ago

It is due to osmossis. If you have a bunch of molecules packed into a small area, so that they are very dense, then water is attracted to them to thin it out. The reasons for this are due to entropy and the tendency towards equillibrium, but what matters is the cell is constantly filling up with water. If too much gets in it can pop.

So the cell manages this using pumps in the cell membrane that maintain a balance of osmotic pressure. These pumps require energy, and for that sugars + oxygen create ATP (through a complex process). ATP is basically the energy currency of the cell. ATP then gets used to run the pumps that maintain the pressure*.

So when the disolved oxygen is gone, ATP production starts to drop off, and the pressure starts to build up. After a tipping point, everything starts to break down, and that's what you see in the video.

*Just to note, it isn't pressure so much as solute concentration that the pumps are maintaining, but it is easier to think of it as pressure in terms of how it works.

1

u/Awkward-Winner-99 16d ago

Ahh, I know osmosis but I didn't think of that. Also why we shouldn't drink distilled water

2

u/Holiday-Persimmon564 16d ago

I don’t think the issue with distilled water is related to this. It’s more likely due to a lack of essential minerals or the effects of pH on our teeth.

1

u/Iamgoingtooffendyou 16d ago

I can relate.

1

u/Admirable_Truth_6031 16d ago

Trust me there is plenty of oxygen for them to survive more than a few minutes

1

u/Deliciouserest 16d ago

Me on friday nights

1

u/Cool_Ad_6850 16d ago

Same Brah.

26

u/Timely_Ad4316 16d ago

It boiled to death? 😢

2

u/mrohsix1 16d ago

Got some trouble wall to wall

2

u/reddemomanTF2 14d ago

I hate OP now

1

u/WhoDunIt1789 13d ago

Blinded by the light?

21

u/Ziggy_Starcrust 16d ago

Losing his bubbles :(

20

u/the_toxic_avenger_ 16d ago

Looks like some antimicrobial was introduced right before it started undergoing lysis

13

u/idlehum 16d ago

It looked like he clipped that little bulb at the bottom on the rotation that his edge goes off camera, and when that edge comes back into frame, all his little insides are spilling out 😭

3

u/tamsyn003 16d ago

So, they killed him just so we could watch him die? 😢

2

u/Reinis_LV 16d ago

Not having enough bubbles

2

u/marr75 16d ago

Being tortured by the microscope operator with the extremely close light source

1

u/account312 16d ago

Really just pooped itself out.

17

u/thispleasesbabby 16d ago

shades of "oh noooooo, all its circles fell out". an old classic from a similar post many moons ago

3

u/bog_moss 16d ago

I'm glad someone else remembers this

2

u/IJustWantPleasurePlz 16d ago

Not the bubble boi

2

u/jontherobot 15d ago

Au contraire, it became nothing but bubbles

1

u/The-odd-one-out 15d ago

He became what he loved most rip lil dude

2

u/Tales_of_Earth 13d ago

Ashes to ashes. Bubbles to bubbles.

1

u/fakenews_thankme 14d ago

..and balls.