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Friday, December 1, 2023

But Can You Play A Sad Song On The World's Smallest Mustache?

Have you ever wondered what a red blood cell would look like if it had a mustache? No? Isn't that one of those things every person thinks about? 

Apparently not.

Anyway, now you don't have to not wonder, because a team of scientists from Australia has equipped a red blood cell with the world's smallest mustache. And best of all, they did it for a good reason.

Truly, a glorious mustache. Credit: Australian Red Cross Lifeblood

The project was actually a collaboration between the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood organization and Movember, a men's health charity that operates all around the world, and is meant to act as a symbol for the importance of blood donation in men's health. After all, according to a spokesperson from the Lifeblood organization, donating blood doesn't just help the community, it can also help donors learn about their own health. 

Obviously, one doesn't simply attach a 5-mcm mustache to a red blood cell. The process behind the image is impressive: First things first, the "Mo" mustache needed to be crafted by layering 3D-printed polymer onto a small stalk. Then, the blood cell was attached to a gold slide and coated with an extremely thin – we're talking just a few nanometers – metal layer. The mustache was carefully affixed to the cell, and a powerful electron microscope scanned the ensemble.

The end result is ... well, it kind of looks like Mr. Snrub. But that's okay, after all, this is a very cool project with an actual message behind it. And who doesn't like the way Snrub thinks? Take care of the nuclear plant, er, yourself. Yes, yourself, that'll do. Not the nuclear plant.



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