Given the opportunity, under the right conditions, two cells from wild…

Lewis Thomas
101 citations
Given the opportunity, under the right conditions, two cells from wildly different sources, a yeast cell, say, and a chicken erythrocyte, will touch, fuse, and the two nuclei will then fuse as well, and the new hybrid cell will now divide into monstrous progeny. Naked cells, lacking self-respect, do not seem to have any sense of self. ✨ Lewis Thomas (1990). A Long Line of Cells Collected Essays
Life
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