This six-minute TED video by Janet Iwasa inspires me. It’s a story about what goes on inside of you and me. Iwasa is a bio-molecular animator. She creates animations of the processes within our cells. Her workspace is an extraordinarily beautiful but disorienting mini-universe.

The molecules Iwasa studies function as the support team within cells. Even though these many non-living things that are clearly not alive, they seem to be alive and even purposeful in these animations. They appear as tiny magical robots. Iwasa offers many examples of her animations in this video, including molecules that allow DNA to function. DNA is not an intricate code that simply sits there. DNA allows your body to be alive via the synthesis of proteins.

That this highly coordinated activity can happen at this scale is mind-boggling, especially given that the DNA is so incredibly complex and so tightly folded. It is mind-boggling that the DNA from one microscopic human cell, completely unfolded, would stretch six feet in length. I hope you as amazed as I was when you see Iwasa’s animations.