Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

See How Tough Your Immune System is With "Blood Wars"

Posted by samzenpus on from the that's-some-tough-blood dept.

Thanks to a new art/science exhibition called "Blood Wars," you can find out whose dad has the toughest immune system once and for all. The brainchild of artist Kathy High, "Blood Wars" pits white blood cells from two different people against each other. From the article: "In order to create the blood duel, High gets a phlebotomist to take blood samples from two different people. She then separates the white blood cells from the rest of the blood and stains them using different colors. They are then placed in a Petri dish and their interactions are filmed under a microscope using time-lapse microscopy. The cellular 'winner' of each round will go onto fight another participant."

3 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Blood wars by devxo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This comes as a weird time for me, as I just a month ago got an autoimmune attack in my system. That is when your own system starts attacking itself thinking theres an enemy. It's usually unknown where or why it hits a person, but I probably got it from some food in south east asia. End result - now 1,5 months in hospital and unable to walk. Doctors aren't yet completely sure what it is, but they're thinking it's Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Human blood cells attacking itself is some nasty bug. At least my legs and hands still work little bit so I will be able to recover.

    1. Re:Blood wars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I had GBS 4 years ago and I would say that is definitely what you have. They should be able to do a lumber puncture to determine if it is that. I had great fun relearning to breathe for myself again and learning to walk again. Not so easy when you can't feel the floor!

      However I doubt that you got it from some food in south east asia. Neither I, nor anyone in the support group of GBS sufferers that I know have ever been to Asia never mind eaten some food there. Whilst they don't know what causes GBS. Nearly all the theories require you to of had another flu like bug in the preceeding weeks.

  2. Retreive Winning Cells by muphin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    i wonder if you can retrieve the ultimate winner cells (your cells) and it will boost your immune system? where is the database stored so the cells know which foreign cells to go after, is it the white cells itself or a chemical reaction?

    --
    It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!