Storify Biology Whims are 2D and 3D biology-inspired animations that distill fundamental concepts in a lighthearted way.
Concepts are presented story-forward, with limited to no exposition in order to immerse the viewer directly into the world of the scientific. A short, captivating description of the scientific concept accompanies each short video to provide further context to the curious mind or educator.
This structure provides flexibility to those wanting to share scientific content while promoting fun and connection based on humor and a sense of whimsy.
When Chemistry tells Ghost Stories
Halloween marks the time of year where magic infuses into household decor to take us thru the winter!
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Will-o’-the-Wisp… Ghost Fire…When Chemistry tells Ghost Stories
This eerie little blue-green flame has inspired legends of faeries and spirits from all around the world.
Science has been trying to explain these enigmatic little flames since the 1500s, and in the 500 years to follow, chemists and microbiologists have slowly pieced together a model ~
In marshlands and shallow graveyards, bacteria in the soil feasts upon decaying animal material, producing Phosphine (PH3).
Zooming into the atomic scale, when Phosphine (gas) rises above the ground, it spontaneously reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere, creating high energy compounds that emit light in green, blue, and sometimes faintly purple!
~ PO2 (O-P=O) emit photons in the “blue thru ultraviolet” wavelengths ~
~ HOPO (H-O-P=O) emit photons in the “green” wavelength ~
With enough Phosphine floating up from the ground, these little puffs of green and blue flames can actually become visible, conspiring with the already spooky marshlands or graveyards to stimulate the imagination even further!
Even with the mystery of the will-o’-the-wisp explained by science, let us still imagine the scientific explanation with magic and whimsy! 🪄💫✨
Happy Halloween! 👻
P.S. My references are engraved on the gravestones, to which I pay my respects 🔎🪦🔍
A Plasmid Odyssey
Bacterial conjugation and sharing of antibiotic resistance create one of the most prevalent problems in medical practice. Although the concept is vastly covered in biomedical education, antibiotic resistance remains widespread across the globe due to limited understanding by folks without a biology background. A toon-style animated story with an emotional narrative can help open the conversation for those in the know to inform and educate in a more casual and friendly setting.
The 2026 film « The Odyssey » makes for a perfect atmosphere for a story on antibiotic resistance - where a losing game for the bacteria is a winning one for us, and a resistant bacteria turning the tide spells disaster for humankind!
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Facing the onslaught of antibiotics, a lone bacteria survives, scared, exhausted.
Behold! A savior appears! Wielding resistance to the deadly antibiotic.
He extends a pilus to his weaker brethren, sharing the gene of resistance, a gift of life.
Soon, both can survive and thrive, leading a comeback to turn the tide.
Wholesome for them, terrifying for modern medicine.
Proteasome’s Favorite Meal
Sometimes, silly beats all else, and when science can be communicated with accuracy while being silly - you hit gold.
This short was created in collaboration with Biologyto as our first foray into humor based biology shorts. To date, it has been shared and saved around the world thousands of times and viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. Humor really does unite people by being playful.
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WHEN THE RIBOSOME MAKES A MISTAKE 🧬👀
Ribosomes are usually incredible at translating mRNA into perfectly folded proteins. But every once in a while, they make a mistake, and a protein comes out completely wrong! 🥴📉
Instead of letting these defective proteins build up and cause chaos, your cells have a brilliant recycling system. Here is how it works: ➡️👀
🏷️ The Tag: The moment a misfolded protein is detected, molecules called Ubiquitin quickly latch onto it, acting as a cellular "kiss of death."
🍽️ The Feast: The Proteasome recognizes this tag, swoops in, and completely engulfs the defective protein.
♻️ The Recycle: The Proteasome chews up the misfolded protein, breaking it down into fresh peptides and amino acids that the cell can reuse to build new, healthy proteins!
Prion ~ Corruption by Scrapie
Amongst the overwhelming enthusiasm to “Proteasome’s Favorite Meal” were requests for a story on Prions, so here it is!
In this short, I intentionally pushed the boundaries of emotional tone by exploring metaphors that might raise an eyebrow in some academics, yet has the potential to explain the concept more intuitively.
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The Molecular Mechanism behind Prion Diseases:
Prion diseases, like Creutzfeldt-Jakob, or “Mad Cow” disease, is caused when a misfolded version of the protein PrP - its “Scrapie” form - induces correctly folded PrP to become misfolded.
In the scientific literature, PrP-sc infects PrP-c, leading to an amplification cycle that creates more and more PrP-sc, which stacks together forming long fibrillar structures eventually cause neuronal damage.
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The Playful re-interpretation:
Whereas the scientific literature calls PrP-sc the “infectious” form of PrP, I chose to substitute “infectious” with “corrupting”, a verb that more directly intuit the relationship between PrP-sc and PrP-c as the former having a sinister effect on the latter. From there, the rest of this molecular story unfolds, with the initial PrP-sc as the seed, and the newly corrupted PrP-sc stacking one upon another, spiraling into a monstrous fibril that crashes in toward the viewers.
If you had full freedom to explore wacky storytelling built upon accurate science, what would you make? I’d love to work with you on it!
Chaperone to the Rescue
The second most popular request to “Proteasome’s Favorite Meal” was for a story on Chaperones!
While conceiving the visuals style of this storyline, the jailbreak scene from « Tangled » kept popping into my head, and I realized that the GroEL/ES chaperone is very much a rescuer of the misfolded protein!
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CHAPERONE TO THE RESCUE 🧬🪄🔧
The GroEL/ES Chaperone may just have the kindest job in the cell, by giving misfolded proteins a second chance at becoming correctly folded inside its protective cavity! 💅
Normally, misfolded proteins get hit with a Ubiquitin "kiss of death" and are sent straight to the Proteasome for recycling. ☠️
But sometimes, all it needs is a little safe space to refold into its best self, and that’s when the GroEL/ES Chaperone steps in!
Although it cheats the Proteasome of a good meal, a correctly folded protein becomes a functional and contributing member to the daily operations of the cell.
Lupin’s greatest fear - the Normoblast
What if Lupin's greatest fear is just a Normoblast - a blood cell 2 stages prior to developing into an erythrocyte? By casting "riddikulus", Lupin forces the Normoblast boggart to spit out its nucleus, thus hastening its transition to the Reticulocyte (now 1 step closer to becoming the erythrocyte).
By combining several of my favorite things ~ film, Harry Potter, and biomedical trivia, this first foray in utilizing humor for the delivery of biomedical information planted the seed that grew into Storify Biology Whims in the following 6 months.
If you had full freedom to explore wacky storytelling built upon accurate science,
what would you make?
Feel free to reach out at beiyun@cliubioanimation.studio,
and let’s explore some new avenues together!