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LESSER SOMATIC SELECTION. "Somatic stem cell maintenance mechanisms are likely geared to maximize the probability of reaching reproductive age. Selection, as observed in the germline, would in somatic stem cells lead to rapid attrition and therefore to insufficient tissue maintenance and replacement to be compatible with life up to reproductive age." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193459091500209X View in LinkedIn

THE HAND AT THE WHEEL. "Use of glycolysis for ATP production in somatic stem cells as opposed to mitochondrial respiration in the germline suggests that mitochondria play a critical role in stem cell maintenance and gamete selection." The mitochondrion was of bacterial origin. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193459091500209X View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this second weekend contemplating the marvelous slime mold. They are examples of how our simplistic thinking has led us to false conclusions. For a very long time, biology has failed to deliver a view of the world that is realistic. Infused with nonsense about human self-importance, we have been in a delusional bubble and dismissed great swaths of the living world as primitive and non-sensate. Very slowly, we are realizing the error of our ways, and the world becomes a richer place as a result. View in LinkedIn

PROGRAMMING SLIME MOLDS. “We show how to program living slime mold machines by configurations of repelling and attracting gradients and demonstrate the workability of the living machines on tasks of computational geometry, logic, and arithmetic.” http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/ARTL_a_00110 View in LinkedIn

DEDIFFERENTIATION. "During limb regeneration adult tissue is converted into a zone of undifferentiated progenitors called the blastema that reforms the diverse tissues of the limb. Previous experiments have led to wide acceptance that limb tissues dedifferentiate to form pluripotent cells." https://lnkd.in/gcYRVjY View in LinkedIn

SLIMY DEVICES. “In a series of simple experiments we demonstrate how to make computing, sensing, and actuating devices from the slime mold.” https://lnkd.in/g5z_FfP View in LinkedIn

FATE REVERSAL. "It has long been thought that once mammalian cells are committed to a specific lineage, they can no longer change their fate, and thus they become so-called terminally differentiated cells. But recent studies suggest that differentiated mammalian cells can be induced to assume new fates under appropriate conditions, a phenomenon termed dedifferentiation." https://lnkd.in/gxtx9hi View in LinkedIn

SLIME MOLD NEURAL SYSTEM. “Through a range of computer modeling techniques, we demonstrate how emergent behavior, and hence computational intelligence, may occur in cytoskeletal communications networks. Specifically, we model the topology of both the actin and tubulin cytoskeletal networks and discuss how computation may occur therein. Furthermore, we present bespoke cellular automata and particle swarm models for the computational process within the cytoskeleton and observe the incidence of emergent patterns in both.” https://lnkd.in/gDZPXsj View in LinkedIn

DEVELOPMENT LIMITS. "During animal development, cells become progressively constrained to a certain cell type, and the capacity to respond to a variety of differentiation signals declines after each generation. In other words, the process of differentiation gradually reduces the potential of a cell. In the final stage of differentiation, the cell is thought to stop dividing permanently." https://lnkd.in/gxtx9hi View in LinkedIn

AMPHIBIAN LIMB REGENERATION. "The ability to regenerate complex structures is widespread in metazoan phylogeny, but among vertebrates the urodele amphibians are exceptional. Adult urodeles can regenerate their limbs by local formation of a mesenchymal growth zone or blastema." https://lnkd.in/dxZ4YAq View in LinkedIn