Singled Out

How to study cells, one by one

Fly over any baseball stadium when the home-team batter slams a double in the gap with two men on base, and you’ll see a crowd of fans rising in unison, arms waving wildly in the air. You’d think you were viewing typical baseball fan behavior.

Despite being kept in the same lab conditions, these human colon cells make differing amounts of the protein beta-catenin (green) in their nuclei (blue).