Fierce Roller
Evolution, transitions, and volvocine algae
Volvox the game.
Pretty much what the title says. Back in May (have I really been blogging since May?) I posted about “Volvox, the…game?,” a puzzler demoed on Steam. The developers, Neotonia, Ltd., promised a June release, so maybe a bit optimistic on that, but it came out yesterday. $7.99 for SteamPlay, which means you get Windows and Mac versions for one price.
Figure 27 from Baker 1764.
Gilbert Smith’s foundational comparative study of the then known species of Volvox cites Henry Baker’s 1753 book, Employment for the Microscope : in Two Parts. Although he was writing 50+ years after Van Leeuwenhoek first described his “great round particles” (see “…of the bignefs of a great corn of fand…”), Baker makes no mention of this earlier publication. Since Part II of Employment is titled “An account of various animalcules, never before described, and of many other microscopical discoveries,” it seems that he was unaware of Van Leeuwenhoek’s work [emphasis mine]. Read a Philosophical Transactions for once in your life.*
Volvox photo by Jack Challoner
Wired has a short blurb featuring some photos from Jack Challoner’s new book The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life, including the above Volvox picture. The caption is
Algae Colonies
Each green sphere is a colony of Volvox algae with more than 50,000 cells. Scientists study these glowing, freshwater organisms as models for how living creatures develop specialized cells and tissue. Strands of cytoplasm connect neighboring cells, allowing them to communicate, and slender flagella propel the colony through the water.