Most scientists are straight, up-and-down sort of people. Not so my old friend and colleague Tom Elsdale, a developmental and cell biologist, who has died aged 85. His best work always started with his noticing something odd in the lab at the Medical Research Council human genetics unit in Edinburgh. He would think about it, dream about it and play with it, and eventually publish something truly original.
This approach led to a novel way of culturing cells in 3D protein gels, produced because he felt that cells would lead happier lives there than in plastic dishes; a method that is now standard. He then showed that cells growing in dishes organised themselves in patterns that not only illuminated how cells made tissues in embryos, but were related in shape to those of fingerprints. This observation led to an invitation to speak at the city's police headquarters.
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