It would be cool if all scientific discoveries came with a simplified artistic rendition of the discovery. 'Twould be more fun!

First sentence there needs the word 'if' added, kinda confusing otherwise.

2007? More like 1987. What Reiner et al. elucidated was the mechanics of this system. But all the information in that cartoon appears in any immunology text from the mid-90's on. Elegant work, but just one piece of the puzzle.

@foolish-rain: The sad fact is that no medical breakthrough is ever really more than an elegant piece of the puzzle. Still, I think it's well done.

I honestly thought that the existence of those "memory cells" were already established; I guess it was just theory at the time.

I was under the impression that memory cells were already established fact as well, I learned about them about a year ago now in my immunology class.

I too learned it this previously...

and like all good medical students I learned it twice and forgot it three times..

The discover was "showing how the immune system generates two types of the sophisticated tools known as T-cell"...

We knew it happened.. we apparently did not have some detail of how it happened...

But not to diss this discovery or it cartoon version.

I am always in favor of trying to spread science to the masses...

@DocGratis: Exactly -- the discovery was showing how it works, not proving their existence.

T-cell. Presumably closely linked to the t-virus? I can't see this ending well...

No matter how this stuff works, it needs to be ramped up big time with the addition of nanocytes. If we can filter the internet with it's hundreds of billions of bits, then we should be able to filter our bodies too. Hey, it's all just information.

Since the Fighter T-cells are green, do Vulcans have more of them?

Wesman, the answer is YES! And you win today's prise: An io9 T-shirt. Just tell use your size and what color. You get to pick black or black.

I'd buy one.

If any one is intrested here is the abstract from SCIENCE:

A hallmark of mammalian immunity is the heterogeneity of cell fate that exists among pathogen-experienced lymphocytes. We show that a dividing T lymphocyte initially responding to a microbe exhibits unequal partitioning of proteins that mediate signaling, cell fate specification, and asymmetric cell division. Asymmetric segregation of determinants appears to be coordinated by prolonged interaction between the T cell and its antigen-presenting cell before division. Additionally, the first two daughter T cells displayed phenotypic and functional indicators of being differentially fated toward effector and memory lineages. These results suggest a mechanism by which a single lymphocyte can apportion diverse cell fates necessary for adaptive immunity.

Shame I can't post the entire article

THIS is the greated medical discovery of 2007? I learned about this in highschool back in 1996.

Seriously, wtf...

Now if someone could only provide a handy illustration of the labyrinthine X-Files mythology...

@Chiper:
I thought the same thing too, but it should be remebered that its how it happens that memory and effector T cells are developed. Before this work it was thought that either (A) different ways the immune system sees pathogens and vaccines cause effector or memory formation in T cells or (B) that memory T cells evolve after the collapse of the effector cell population in the resolution of infection.

What this article show as far as I understand it is that is its neither, but option (C). After simulation by the dendritic cell, the T cell will divide into two daughter cells that are functionally different. This was not expected- what was expected is that they would be exactly the same.

Here is a pubmed link to the actual paper: [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

@Jeff-Minor: Extra Large. And can I get a black one? My life will then be complete. Shoot me, stuff me, and sit me on the mantel.