Page 24 - Consciousness in the Cell

CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE CELL

THE SHAPE OF CELLS REFUTES

THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION

There are approximately 200 different types of cells in your
body, yet they differ from one another in only the slightest of
ways. One of the most important differences is shape. Although
nerve cells, muscle cells, and blood cells all have the same basic
DNA, it is thanks to their perfect individual shapes that they func-
tion with the utmost efficiency in the region of the body where
they carry out their duties.
Two examples of cells with different shapes are nerve cells and
blood cells. Nerve cells have long extensions, called axons, from
the spinal cord to the feet that can reach up to one meter in length
in humans. This way, when stimuli pass from one cell to another,
there is no time lost. The impulses pass directly to where they are
going.
Red blood cells, called erythrocytes, however, contrary to nerve
cells, are only about 7-8 micrometers in diameter. The very fact of
their being so tiny means that they penetrate the smallest of capil-
laries with ease, and without getting deformed. In addition, their
biconcave shape maximizes the surface area across which oxygen
is exchanged for carbon dioxide. If you consider that there are mil-
lions of these cells in one cubic millimeter of blood, it won't be
hard for you to estimate the massive surface area on which this
exchange of gases is carried out.
Cells in the eye and ear are also specialized in regards to shape.
The cochlea, inside the inner ear, contains sensory cells which
have hairlike projections that produce nerve impulses in response
to sound vibrations in the middle ear. Somewhat similarly, light-
sensitive cells of the retina in the eye have also been designed to

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