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Cells, They Are The Building Block Of All Life, They Are

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Cells, they are the building block of all life, they are what make up the entirety of living things on Earth and without them living things would cease to exist. It is because of this that cells are considered to be the most important known unit of life and are studied so often. Cells were first observed in the mid 17th century by English physicist and microscopist Robert Hooke using on of the earliest versions of the microscope. (Biologyreference.com, 2017) Hooke’s observations led to further investigations and studies into the topic of cells resulting in many major breakthroughs in the field of biology. Possibly the biggest of these breakthroughs is credited to have being made by Theodor schwann, Matthias Schleiden and Rudolph Virchow, …show more content…

A few examples of specialised cells include red blood cells which provide oxygen to body tissues, beta cells which release the hormone insulin in the pancreas and nerve cells which send messages to and from different parts of the body using electrical impulses.(Bbc.co.uk, 2017)

In regards to their basic structure, according to the SEER Training website, “cells consist of three parts: the cell membrane, the nucleus, and, between the two, the cytoplasm.” (Training.seer.cancer.gov, 2017) This is true for animal cells however plant cells contain a fourth part which is known as the cell wall, it is located on the outside of the cell membrane and allows the cell to keep its rigid shape. It should also be known that there are types of cells that do not contain a nucleus, these are called prokaryotic cells and generally still have the same characteristics as cells that do have a nucleus which are known as eukaryotic cells. (Study.com, 2017) As seen in Figure 1 cells also contain organelles which keep the cell alive and allow it to function effectively.The cytoplasm of the cell which resides between the cell membrane and the nucleus is a gel-like liquid filling the inside of the cell. The cytoplasm allows the cell to have shape and allows the cell 's organelles to move around the cell as needed and function correctly. The nucleus is widely considered to be the control center or

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