The origin of all life on this planet, is a single cell. 37 trillion cells, performing specialized tasks, stuck together, organized in tissues, as organs, this is a human being. How can such complexity arise? Every animals starts as a single cell. This special cell contains all of the information needed to become every other cell withing the organism. How can something so tiny contain so much information? The beautiful six pointed shape of a snowflake emerges from the hexagonal geometry of water molecules frozen in a crystal lattice. This crystal lattice of ice emerges from the properties of a water molecule where oxygen is is more negative and hydrogen is more positive.  From simple properties and geometry a beautiful, complex, and unique snowflake isborn. A tiny water molecule, just a mere 2.5 Angstroms,  contains all of the information necessary to build a snowflake. It is easy to think of life as form of magic that defies explanation, but the way every living thing is built, from bacteria to humans, is not that different from how a snowflake is made. Inside each cell is a whirlwind of chemistry or physics, depending on how you want to look at it, either way it is physical stuff and it has physical properties. The genes in our DNA code for different types of proteins. Some of these proteins make other structures, such as lipids and complex chains of sugars, each with their own physical and mechanical properties. Some proteins also organize themselves into networks that can give shape to a cell and allow cells to move around their environment. One such shape change is when a cell divides itself in two. When cell division happens to a single cell organism it allows them to reproduce and the first cell division of a soon to be multicellular organism begins a cascade towards multicellulartiy. For a multicellular organisms this present the next physical challenge that the organism has to overcome, how to we connect these cells together, to say... multicellular.

How cells respond to the mechanical cues from cell division

How proteins contribute to cellular and tissue mechanics. 

Cytokinesis

Junctions

Tissue mechanics shaping organisms.

Every single species undergoes a 

Here the focus will be on how cell within a tissue, communicate with mechanical force. Cells can both respond to mechanical cues and produce mechanical force.

those proteins have different properties, and results in different structures and changes at the cell and tissue level. Interestingly some proteins even have a hexagonal geometry like water, and cells themselves often form hexagons in a tissue. 

single celled organism have mechanical whole cell changes. Division

Multicelluar have a 

single cell

mechanical events

cytokinesis the first cell scale mechanical event

then what comes next?

cell adhesion? WHy do the form a colony? Similar to animal development? bacteria control multicellularity?