Deep Inside Bacteria, a Germ of Human Personality

Wall Street Journal ^ | 8 September 2009 | Gautam Naik

[OldNavyVet]

Bacteria are the oldest living things on earth, and researchers have long felt that they must lead dull, unfussy lives. New discoveries are starting to show just how wrong that notion is.

For a simple, single-cell creature, a bacterium is surprisingly social. It can communicate in two languages. It can tell self from nonself, friend from foe. It thrives in the company of others. It spies on neighbors, spreads misinformation and even commits fratricide.

"Really, they're just stripped-down versions of us," says Bonnie Bassler, microbial geneticist at Princeton University, who has spent two decades peeking at the inner lives of bacteria. Dr. Bassler and other scientists are using this information to devise new ways to fight infections and reduce antibiotic resistance.

[OldNavyVet]

The medical ramifications of this finding could be remarkable. The new field of bacteria "quorum sensing" has "dozens of labs involved and scores of papers published."

[HiTech RedNeck]

Cool, germ psy-ops.

[OldNavyVet]

Ping

[mnehring]

Just wait until we get some nut starting the “People for the Ethical Treatment of Bacteria” demanding an end to all destruction of said life form.

[Mount Athos]

Here is an actual video of Bacteria in action.

[I Buried My Guns]

"Really, we're no better than bacteria".

As a mindset and worldview, I find that a dangerous concept.

[oyez]

I could be a felony to have Lysol or mouth wash in your possession or to be puring bleach into you clothes washer.
It could be illegal to boil water or cook food.

[HiTech RedNeck]

There are allegedly ten times as many cells of bacteria in a typical human, than there are cells of human.

[JimC214]

The problem with the Morons that say stupid things like this, is that there Mommies and Daddies never told them growing up how some of the things they have said were stupid. Instead there Parents always told them they were smart and clever. Never critiquing them. So now they say this silly crap and have no clue how stupid they really sound.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I couldn’t find any remark of the kind in this article.

[msrngtp2002]

So here’s a thought.

There is probably some huge microscope outside our universe. Someone is peering through it right now and commenting how these seemingly multi-cellular things seem to communicate while thriving on an electron with this bright nucleus. They seem to be able to move around on their own power and have created this unique environment that sustains their lives.

And even that being is trying to figure out who voted for Obama!

[OldNavyVet]

Actually, HiTech is right. One source is on page 90 of “Darwin’s Ghost” by Steve Jones, where Jones writes ...

“Just a tenth of the cells in our bodies are human. Most of the rest belong to bacteria (although a few fungi, mites, and worms leaven the mix).”

On page 284, Jones also writes: “About a thousand genes are shared by every organism, however simple or compicated. Although their common ancestor must have lived more than a billion years ago, their shared structure can still be glimpsed. It shows how the grand plan of life has been modified through the course of evolution.”

[Wuli]

I had learned before about some good symbiosis our bodies have with bacteria - as in digestion.

Until this article, I had not read or considered just how pervasive living bacteria were to our bodies.

Thanks for the post.

[victim soul]

So just imagine what a human fertilized egg is and can do.

[CottShop]

[[”Really, we’re no better than bacteria”.]]

Sorry- but we ARE better than bacteria- Bacteria do not ‘choose’ based on logic- they ‘react’ based on predesigned instructions already coded in- quorum-sensing is simply a predesigned ‘trigger mechanism’, interrupt their quorum-sensing, and the info designed into hte bacteria fail to trigger

[[Equally remarkable is how bacteria band together and behave like sophisticated, multicellular animals. They sometimes organize into deeply structured “slime cities,” or biofilms.]]

Ah yes- projecting beyond hte evidnece- Golly- Bacteria doign what they were designed to do- whoda thunk it?

[[It thrives in the company of others. It spies on neighbors, spreads misinformation and even commits fratricide.]]

They make htis statement, then don’t give any examples?- And htis would- had they given examples, just go to show again, that they are predesigned to ‘give misinformaiton’ when triggered to do so- not that they are ‘thinking and hcoosing’ to do so like humans do- even the bacteria that only give off bioluminescent light only when a ‘certain number are present together’ again shows nothign but a system of predesign and trigger reactions

[[[[”Really, we’re no better than bacteria”.]]]]

BS!

[CottShop]

[[“About a thousand genes are shared by every organism, however simple or compicated. Although their common ancestor must have lived more than a billion years ago, their shared structure can still be glimpsed. It shows how the grand plan of life has been modified through the course of evolution.”]]

Throw out an unprovable ASSUMPTION without ANY evidence ot back it up- then claim it that hte ASSUMPTION proves evolution- (And for good measure- just ignore informaiton theory which is devestating to the hypothesis of Macroevolution- just wave it away- along with hte second law, mathematical impossibilities, chemical impossibilities, biological impossibilities,, and also be sure to convince everyone that thigns that are irreducibly complex only ‘look irreducibly complex, and that nature is pulling a grand trick on us) This is ‘science;’?

[OldNavyVet]

Your tagline is telling. It reads: "Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge."

I think beliefs belong in church.

A more accurate tagline might read:

Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.

[CottShop]

[[Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.]]

Precisely- which is WHY they shopuld NOT allow the RELIGOUS beleif in macroevolution in schools and keep it in the temple of Darwin where it belongs