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iL 



100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



Coiiaboration 



Scientists often find that they need a particular tool or a particular proce- 

 dure which is not readily available. They cannot always just locate the item 

 in a handy mail order catalog and phone in an order. So the scientist 

 becomes part designer and engineer. And each MBL researcher learns 

 from the others. One cell biologist reports that his work in embryology 

 depended on finding a ftinctional probe of a particular sort to perform 

 delicate operations. Only in talking to a neurobiologist on the MBL beach did 

 he realize how to solve his technical equipment problem. Other examples 

 abound: there is the neurophysiologist working on the horseshoe crab 

 Limulus exchanging ideas with the expert studying the workings of the fish 

 retina; they collaborate on analyzing what the brain tells the eye to do. The 

 salt-marsh ecologist learns from the physical chemist about uptake of 

 various chemical nutrients. Or the cell biologist studying cell motility in- 

 spires others to look more closely at the effects of osmotic pressure. The 

 light microscopist with his unique equipment makes it possible for the 

 expert on growth of the sperm's extending acrosomal tip in fertilization and 



An early laboratory. 

 MBL Ai-chives. 



