Intro LO: In my view, the impact of this Quanta Magazine article reaches much and much further than its topic, being: even a single bacterial cell senses seasonal change. Hence, my blog title: consciousness on a cellular level. Lately, many more articles are about consciousness in other life-forms than humans (eg, animals, plants and trees). The (alleged)...
Last Saturday, a blog title entered my mind: mission accomplished. That feeling resulted from my 3-week trip to Italy, which ended last Friday. Actually, several blog titles have passed my mind during my trip but those only made it to my list of potential topics. This one feels different. On 1 May 2003, the (then) US President made a televised speech on an aircraft...
Recently, I read that all birds look for cover during heavy rain, except for wood-pigeons (eg, 2014 blog, Quora, source). As a result, these pigeons may die from hypothermia. It's not only birds but also humans and plants. Hence, this Naked Scientists question: Why do animals (and humans) dislike getting wet? I once read that plants panic as they fear the impact of...
Introduction LO: This Quanta article is fascinating if and when you're interested in (convergent) evolution. Although the article does not mention consciousness, it strongly suggests that consciousness is a phenomenon that starts in a single cell. It also suggest that multicellular organisms have collective consciousness that can learn. A must-read ! Single Cells...
About a month ago, I noticed mushrooms growing on a “beheaded” tree. An example of symbiosis, I thought. A week later, I noticed a white thread in those mushrooms, probably a yeast. I wondered whether this was an example of 3-way symbiosis. Several days later, the mushrooms had become a filthy stinking drab. The yeast had probably killed the intruding mushrooms....
Quanta Magazine title: By Losing Genes, Life Often Evolved More Complexity Quanta subtitle: Recent major surveys show that reductions in genomic complexity — including the loss of key genes — have successfully shaped the evolution of life throughout history. By: Viviane Callier Date: 1 September 2020 "When Cristian Cañestro set out in the early 2000s to study...
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