Microbial Email: Scientists Discover Wired Bacteria


	Microbial Email: Scientists Discover Wired Bacteria

chestnut501

6-22-2009 5:36 AM

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tags:

biology, microbiology, microbes, bacteria, electrical, signals, evolution, science

chestnut501 says:

Recent research shows that single-celled organisms may be sending electrical-mails of their own.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/9c168c76-726d-4cd2-9c46-dc981dcda0a1/5D83011E-E77D-4CC5-BB9B-ED430B60EC06/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html" href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.dailygalaxy.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html">We might think we're something special with our global communications network, 
and we're right, but bacteria are able to grow electrical connections out of 
their own bodies.&nbsp;</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.dailygalaxy.com/img/C19BBDC2-326C-400E-A189-8A93CF6C0040" alt="1219310512_1210848076_1001780_76346356" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html"><P>The recent discovery of biological nanowires has opened a whole new field in bacterial investigation.  Still in its early stages, the research has already discovered organisms which build tiny electrical connections out of rust and others which can extrude their own thin wiring.  These are used by some bacteria to acquire metal atoms, but it seems they may have many more uses.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html"> The concept of single-cell semaphore isn't so unlikely - we already know that 
bacteria can exchange chemical signals, and if they're also connected by a 
conducting wire they could use that too.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html">The implications are incredible.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/unicellular-internetwe-might-think-were-something-special-with-our-global-communications-network-and-were-right-but-bacteri.html">Anything we can learn about energy distribution and communication at this level 
would be fascinating, quite apart from the movie potential of a mass-minded 
bacterial army.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/5D83011E-E77D-4CC5-BB9B-ED430B60EC06/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>