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Hi Hotch Apoptosis is the selective death of certain cells during the development of an embryo. Apparently it was first described in the wing buds of chickens. As the bud developed the cells at the inner edge died off to produce the cleft between the distal end and the rest of the body. Similar in differentiating of the fingers from the paddle at the end of the limb. One of the theories of cancer formation is that certain damaged cells loose the ability to recognise problems and don't "commit altruistic suicide" as damaged cells are said to do. Sounded a bit weird to me too at first but there is now quite a lot of evidence for the phenomenon. It explains the way in which leaves are cast from live trees but not from a branch which has been broken off. Both the branch & leaves die if broken but they don't separate. >I dare say it has nothing to do with droopy eyelids. It is probably involved in the separation of the eyelids during development. :-) Doubtless some of the classics scholars currently on the list will give us the appropriate linguistic roots. Tom %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%