Month: September 2022

OUT OF THE BOX. "We are bound to face those risks whether or not we seek to harness the full power of the Net, since the teeming and inevitable population of uncaged digital organisms will in any case plow forward with its own relentless exploration of the Net's capabilities." https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

OUT OF THE BOX. "We are bound to face those risks whether or not we seek to harness the full power of the Net, since the teeming and inevitable population of uncaged digital organisms will in any case plow forward with its own relentless exploration of the Net's capabilities." https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

NOT THERE YET. "A self-organizing system not only regulates or adapts its behavior, it creates its own organization. In that respect it differs fundamentally from our present systems, which are created by their designer. Self-organizing systems are intrinsically robust: they can withstand a variety of errors, perturbations, or even partial destruction." https://lnkd.in/dkkAEiE View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE focuses this second and last weekend on worm talk. This discovery is quite remarkable, even in its early stages. Biologists have made disappointing progress decoding the language of vocal animals such as birds and dolphins. But here we have humble nematodes with what looks like a sophisticated language, with syntax, which was supposed to be uniquely human. One day, we might be able to have a conversation with a worm over a nice cup of tea, and discuss their view of the universe. Such a prospect! View in LinkedIn

LARGE VOCABULARY. “Decoding chemical communication in nematodes. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans produces tens, if not hundreds, of different ascarosides as pheromones to communicate with other members of its species.” https://lnkd.in/dXsN6Pj View in LinkedIn

WORD CONTEXTS. “Overlapping mixtures of these pheromones affect the development of the worm and a variety of different behaviors.” https://lnkd.in/dXsN6Pj View in LinkedIn

THE WORDS. “The term ascaroside was first created to describe a novel lipid detected in the intestinal parasite Ascaris lumbricoides over 100 years ago. These lipophilic molecules, containing long aliphatic side chains, formed a layer around Ascaris eggs to protect against harsh environmental conditions. More recently, a larger collection of more hydrophilic ascarosides has been identified in C. elegans and other related nematodes and has been shown to regulate a multitude of behaviors and aspects of the life history of the worm including development, mate attraction, aggregation, and repulsion.” https://lnkd.in/dGAHbZv View in LinkedIn

CONSERVED DIALECT. “Ascaroside Signaling Is Widely Conserved among Nematodes. A group of small molecules called ascarosides has been found to mediate mate finding, aggregation, and developmental diapause in Caenorhabditis elegans, but it is unknown whether ascaroside signaling exists outside of the genus Caenorhabditis.” https://lnkd.in/d6G6mZ9 View in LinkedIn

BEHAVIOR CHANGING WORDS. “In C. elegans, a family of small-molecule pheromones called ascarosides regulates gender-specific attraction, repulsion, aggregation, olfactory plasticity, and entry into dauer (a stress-resistant life stage), collectively demonstrating that ascarosides mediate a wide range of C. elegans behaviors.” https://lnkd.in/d6G6mZ9 View in LinkedIn

DISTRIBUTION UNCERTAIN. “Ascarosides have not yet been found in any other animal phylum, and thus we hypothesized that short-chain ascarosides comprise a nematode-specific chemical code mediating a variety of behaviors in many different species.” https://lnkd.in/d6G6mZ9 View in LinkedIn