sif-knitting

Our work inspired a crafty model of a hair cell that was picked up by Science magazine to be displayed on their news website. In this knitted representation of the cell sensing sound in the inner ear, the “hair cell”, there is a small cord for the kinocilium and knitted fringe for the V-shaped brush that gives the hair cell its name.  The smooth yarn above the brush represents the “bare zone” as described in Tarchini et al. Conversely, as the area below the brush is covered with microvilli, a more fuzzy novelty yarn was used.