Why microbes are smarter than you thought (2)


	Why microbes are smarter than you thought (2)

JICWyllie

7-5-2009 2:22 PM

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tags:

1-capability, 1-intelligence, 2-change, 3-reported, 3-research, 4-intl

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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/d4dc0142-afa5-4b3d-a3b2-2cac38022190/CCE47C3B-84D9-4A0B-B8F9-3C728F752769/" 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.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html?full=true" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html?full=true" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html?full=true"> perhaps the most striking feat of microbial navigation is performed by the slime mould <I>Physarum polycephalum</I>. This colony of amoeba-like organisms always finds the <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25-primitive-intelligence.html">shortest route through a maze</A>.</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.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html?full=true"><P class="infuse">When the amoeba <I>Dictyostelium</I> searches the surface of a Petri dish for food, it makes frequent turns. But it does not do so entirely randomly.</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.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html?full=true"><P class="infuse">If it has just turned right, it is twice as likely to turn left as right on its next turn, and vice versa. In some way, <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325954.900-tiny-organisms-remember-the-way-to-food.html">it "remembers" which direction it last turned</A>. Human sperm <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2729-smart-human-sperm-have-memory.html">have the same ability</A>.</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.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html?full=true"><P class="infuse">Remarkable though these behaviours are, we have probably only scratched the surface of what single-celled organisms can do. With so many still entirely unknown to science, there must be plenty more surprises in store.</P></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/CCE47C3B-84D9-4A0B-B8F9-3C728F752769/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.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>

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