Making new Cells

Fun fact: People used to think life could just spontaneously appear from nothing! That was until Louis Pasteur proved them wrong...

This video is made by a technique called Fluorescence Microscopy - a very cool and widely used technique in science

Cell division only happens at very specific times - when you lose control over when it happens you can get cancer

DNA replication is a cool process that is only possible because of the unique double-helix structure of it.

All living things need to make new cells to survive, grow and reproduce. Here are just a few examples:

But where do new cells come from?

Answer: All cells come from already existing cells. Cells divide into two when they need to multiply. Here is a video of a real kidney cell dividing:

During the process of division from one cell to two new cells, there are two key processes that have to occur:

First, the cell needs to make lots of new protein. This requires lots of transcription and translation.

Next, the cell needs to copy its DNA so the new cell can have an identical copy.

This is called DNA replication.