You’ve made it to the Blastula stage! You are now made up of an outer layer of cells surrounding an empty core called the blastocoel.

Interestingly, a single cell from your blastula has the potential to develop into any part of your body - it is pluripotent.

Blastula cells are programmed to become different tissues and organs depending on the unique signals and messages that they receive.

Mathematics

Ada Lovelace

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (1815 - 1862) was a writer, mathematician, and thinker. As the daughter of poet Lord Byron (the original superstar) and the Lady Anne Byron (herself a gifted mathematician), she felt that art and science - like poetry and mathematics - could complement one another.

It was with this vision that she became the first to recognise that computing machines (such as the one conceptualised by her friend Charles Babbage) could be used for more than just calculating numbers and she became the author of one of the first computer programs ever written.

Throughout her life, Ada Lovelace retained a love for mathematics and science, including wanting to create a model of how the brain gives rise to thoughts.

Mathematics in Biology

Just as Lovelace predicted, many researchers now use advanced computational methods - including artificial intelligence or machine-learning algorithms - to make sense of their findings.

We may oneday be able to use these methods to understand how the human brain works, and fulfil her dream.

Riddles

  • Can you find a leg in hand

    over archway, close to where you stand?

    Look for Henry, standing proud

    he holds your answer,

    in wood it’s found.

  • Have a look for the statue of Henry VIII at Trinity Gate - can you spot him?

    What is he holding in his hand?

    *Hint: it’s part of something you sit on. Ask a friendly porter if your unsure!

*Remember to start your answer with a Capital letter. This is a two word answer but no spaces are needed!

Answer

“If you can't give me poetry, can't you give me poetical science?”

- Ada Lovelace in a letter to her mother.