An introduction to cellular activity in the format of a Disney-themed short story. Read on to learn about the quintillions of miniscule natural machines in your body!
It was a dark, stormy night.
I was holding onto my Elsa doll, and soon fell asleep. I woke up with the room still being dark.
“Is it not morning yet?," I yawned.
“Great, you’re awake!” I heard someone say, and it was Elsa! She was smiling at me, while creating snowflakes from her bare hands. “Let’s go travel around the cell!” She invited me, and started walking away.
“Wait, travel? But I haven’t told my Mom yet!...But I am with Elsa though, the prettiest Disney princess,” I said, and so I followed her.
She then told me, “Take a look at your hand.” But I didn’t understand. It was just my hand, nothing weird about it. Then she said,“ Did you know there are TRILLIONS of cells inside your body?”
What is a ‘cell’? I didn’t understand her, so she explained, “Cells are like little workers in your body.
Have you watched Minions? They’re like them! Tiny, and are like a BIG family. There’s A LOT of them working inside us, and they help each other so that our body - we - can survive.”
“Since there are lots of them, how do I know what their names are? ”I asked.
“You don’t have to give them names. They’re just called cells. Hey, why don’t we see what’s INSIDE a cell?” Elsa suggested.
Inside a cell? Maybe cells are like us! They have body parts, like how we have eyes, ears, and mouth. I wonder what really is inside a cell, though. So I followed Elsa as we walked a long, long way towards a big ovular structure.
She stopped walking and said, “Now, we will be visiting three important cell parts. Got it?” I nodded.
“I want you to pretend we’re at school. What do you see when you reach school?”
I realized she was talking about our School Gate!“ Our gate! It’s like this door but make it bigger.”
Elsa gestured to the circle we are in front of. It looks like the outside of a football stadium, so big and so closed.
“This is called the cell membrane. Some people call it plasma membrane as its nickname.”
I nodded my head up and down, and touched the tall wall in front of us which now I learned is the cell membrane.“ What is the cell membrane for? Why is this here? Does this mean we don’t get to get inside?”
Elsa smiled. "Don’t worry, we’ll get in. But first, you want to know why this is here right?” And I nodded.“
The cell membrane is the wall that serves as a cover for the entire cell.”
“The cover for the entire cell? Isn’t that like, the wrapper to a candy? Or the gate for the school? Or the box to a present?” I said, counting them off with my fingers.
Elsa smiled and said, “It’s exactly that! They serve as protectors for the cell, because they guard it by letting in the good substances, and keeping out the bad substances.” Then she knocked on it, and it opened. We walked into like a big neighborhood, another world.
“Second important part of the cell, is the...cytoplasm!” She said, shaking her hands. “Can you guess where the cytoplasm is?” She asked me.
But I had a hard time guessing, so she gave me a clue. “It’s like where we stand, where the trees are planted, where we can sit without using chairs.”
I thought about it, and placed a finger to my chin. “Land? Floor?” I guessed.
“Both are correct! The cytoplasm is important because without it, other parts of the cell wouldn’t have anything to stand on. It’s like having no table for a vase, or a land for a tree, or a floor for a building.
Plus, a lot of important things happen in the cytoplasm!” Elsa told me.
“Like a birthday? Birthdays are important!” I said. “Yes! There’s this important event that happens in the cytoplasm which is called Cell Division.” Elsa told me as we continued walking.
I raised a brow.“Cell Division? What’s that?”
Elsa smiled, “It’s basically like having babies! The parent cell, divides and creates two more daughter cells.”
“Does this mean there’s LOTS and LOTS of cells in my body then?!”I said in disbelief.
Elsa just laughed and said, “Yes, you are right. There’sa trillion of them in your body!”
“What’s the third important part, though? I’m curious,” I told Elsa.
Elsa motioned to the dark round part in front of us. It looked like an eye to me. Or maybe a meatball. But Elsa said, “This is the nucleus!” She threw her hands up in excitement, making tiny snowflakes float around us from her sleeves.
“Oops sorry, got a little excited there,” and she wiped the snowflakes off my hair.
I laughed. “It’s fine. I’m just curious what a nuc.. What was the name again?”
“Nucleus!” I nodded, finally understanding. “It’s like the brain of the cells!”
“Like the boss?” I asked.
“It does seem to be a leader, since it controls everything basically. Plus it creates an important nutrient called Protein. Have you heard about Protein before?” Elsa told me.
I realized. “Heyyy, I heard about it already. Is it in our foods?” Elsa nodded in agreement.
“Why is it important though? Protein and nucleus.” I asked.
“Nucleus creates protein then protein can be used to create new more cells! Whenever you get bruised, it is important you have enough protein so that wound can heal! Or, if you want to grow, protein is important as well!” Elsa said.
I definitely need protein, that’s for sure. I’ll make sure to tell Mom about it when I come back- wait, when do I come back home?! I started to panic.
“Elsa, I would love to stay but I fear Mom and Dad might be looking for me.”
It looked like Elsa almost forgot as well, and said, “You’re right! Oh well, let’s save the other lessons for next time.” Then she snapped her fingers and I blinked. We were already outside, with the Cell Membrane in front of us. She DOES have magic.
“I wanna learn more, Elsa,” I told her, and then admitted,“ I had so much fun too!”
She laughed. “We’ll come back next time. But for now, you need to... eat.”
And just like that I was awake. My Mother was already calling me from downstairs, “Come eat breakfast!
What’s taking you so long to wake up?”
I was back in my room. The sun was finally out. And Elsa was back to a doll, peacefully beside me. “MOM YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED-”
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