We are all living in a three dimensional world. The Universe, as we see, is also three dimensional. But the modern physics say that there are even unlimited number of universes which are called multiverses. The “String theory” with its wave phenomena is a great contribution of the contemporary physics and mathematics to the world. It is now an established truth that there are dimensions other than three dimensions: from one dimension to multiple dimensions (ref. “Physics of the impossible” by Michio Kaku and the “Cosmos” by Carl Sgan). A simple example of two dimensions is a printed paper.
It is very surprising that 128 years before, in 1884, Edwin Abbott, an English novelist wrote a popular scientific novel of all time “Flat land: A Romance of Many Dimensions”. The creatures of this land were naturally circles, triangles, rectangles, etc.!
The microscopic world we observe under the conventional microscopes is also a flat world- for example, a peripheral blood smear or a bone marrow smear; the inhabitants being blood cells and their precursors in two dimensions. Though these structures are originally three dimensional structures in their homeland of blood and bone marrow; we make them flattened into two dimensional structures while making the smears. In this process we loss some important features of diagnostic importance that may overlie the nuclei of the cells. In routine staining, these structures become difficult to differentiate from the stained nuclei. Simple stains with contrasting colors with different buffers can resolve this problem. This has been described in short in the article “Flat land: A romance of many dimensions” recently published in the American Journal of Hematology (the link is given below, it is a copyright of Wiley-Blackwell, and restrictions apply for download):
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajh.23315/abstract
Article: “Flat land: A romance of many dimensions”
American Journal of Hematology,
(Authors: 1. Dr Biswadip Hazarika, Dep’t of Pathology, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE
2. Prof. Barbara J Bain, Department of Haematology St Mary’s Hospital Campus of Imperial College, St Mary’s Hospital, Praed Street, London W2 1NY
Publication History
- Article first published online: 22 AUG 2012
- Accepted manuscript online: 2 AUG 2012 07:44AM EST
- Manuscript Accepted: 18 JUL 2012
- Manuscript Received: 12 JUL 2012
Another Article of the authors in the Current October Print Issue of the American Journal of Hematology
Article: “Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in a patient with hemoglobin E disease–the importance of timely examination of a blood film”
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajh.23197/abstract
Publication History
- Issue published online: 24 SEP 2012
- Article first published online: 31 MAR 2012
- Accepted manuscript online: 13 MAR 2012 11:22PM EST
- Manuscript Accepted: 6 MAR 2012
- Manuscript Received: 1 MAR 2012
