Scientists just captured the most detailed footage ever of a single neuron in action. In this time-lapse video, you can even see individual proteins moving through different pathways within the cell. This is what your feelings look like.
The study, published in Cell Reports, offers an explanation you’ll be forgiven for not understanding: the images are obtained by using a “novel pulse-chase system, which allows synchronous release of exogenous transmembrane proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to follow movements of post-Golgi transport vesicles.” The scientists don’t make things easier to understand by adding all those colourful lines and arrows to the video.
Translation: You’re watching the guts churn inside a cog in the massive, ultra-complex nervous system that makes you feel every sensation you will ever feel.
Yeah, I know. [Cell Reports via Wired]