• Question: What are the smallest cells in our body?

    Asked by Eric_ib to Sian, Max, Lizzie, Francis, Ben on 6 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Lizzie Wright

      Lizzie Wright answered on 6 Mar 2018:


      Hi Eric. I have to confess that I had to Google this! Apparently the smallest cell is a sperm and the largest is an egg, which makes sense. I defer to the other scientists to see if they have a better answer though!

    • Photo: Max Jamilly

      Max Jamilly answered on 6 Mar 2018:


      Haha, I had to google this as well! I wondered whether red blood cells (which have no DNA at all) were even smaller than sperm (which have half the DNA of a normal cell) but sperm are still a bit smaller. Sperm only need half the normal amount of DNA because the DNA from sperm will be mixed with the DNA from an egg during fertilisation. I don’t know which are the smallest normal cells in the body.

    • Photo: Ben Mulhearn

      Ben Mulhearn answered on 7 Mar 2018:


      I won’t google it though, but I’d be interested in what the other scientists think about platelets!? I always considered them as fragments of cells, but if you consider them as cells, surely they are the smallest in the body?

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