multilingual bacteria & glowing squid

Did you know that there are more bacterial cells on & in your body, than there are cells that are ‘you’? Well, there are. And those bacterial cells don’t live in isolation, endlessly dividing & dividing & dividing… They communicate with each other. (I did know that, having read Carl Zimmer’s wonderful book Microcosm – but not that different species ‘talk’ with each other.)

Now here’s an excellent video on the subject, featuring microbiologist Bonnie Bassler. She does talk about other organisms as well – there’s a wonderful luminescent squid that glows because of the bacteria living in its body. (Which is one reason PZ has the video up on Pharyngula, which is where I found it…)

Enjoy.

 

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