Year: 2022

ALPHABET SIZE UNKNOWN. “The researchers have only just begun to identify what these messages are. As you heard, adding one more chemical to the signal for “go away” changes the meaning to “come here.” It's still unknown how big the worms' “alphabet” of signaling chemicals is, or how many different chemicals may be used in a single message. It's clear, though, that worm language may be extremely different from ours, but it's built on one similar principle, which is that it's better to rearrange a smaller set of signals than to come up with a new signal for everything you want to say.” https://lnkd.in/eQAQ5eZ View in LinkedIn

THE MOLECULAR HEART. "We can now say that many—maybe all—nematodes are communicating by secreting small molecules to build chemical structures called ascarosides," says Sternberg, whose past research in C. elegans found that those worms secrete ascarosides both as a sexual attractant and as a way to control the social behavior of aggregation. "It's really exciting and a big breakthrough that tells us what to look for and how we, too, might be able to communicate with this entire phylum of animals." https://lnkd.in/d6Gc9fp View in LinkedIn

DARKER MOTIVES. “The team also plans to continue deconstructing the language they have found among nematodes. For example, Sternberg wonders, how many different combinations of chemicals mean "food," or "mate," or "attack"? If the scientists can crack the code in terms of what different blends mean to different species, they can begin to interfere with the actions of the nematodes that wreak havoc across the world—leading to better eradication of plant pests, as well as human and animal parasites.” https://lnkd.in/d6Gc9fp View in LinkedIn

MORE THAN PHEROMONES. “The nematode C. elegans secretes ascarosides as pheromones to induce development of the dauer larval stage at high population densities, as well as to control various behaviors, including male attraction to hermaphrodites, hermaphrodite attraction to males, avoidance, foraging behavior, and adult aggregation.” https://lnkd.in/dQ48vr2 View in LinkedIn

DYNAMIC LANGUAGE. “Our data show that C. elegans can engage in dynamic tailoring of the ascarosides that it has produced. This dynamic tailoring enables the worm to respond rapidly to changing environmental conditions and modulate the nature of its chemical message without having to synthesize new ascarosides de novo.” https://lnkd.in/dQ48vr2 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends on worm talk. It is becoming increasingly clear that what we assumed were simple creatures are far from simple. They organize complex societies, develop clever life strategies, mate and have community, based on conversations that we have been deaf to. This is true down to the supposedly simplest of creatures, bacteria and viruses. It is our superior attitude that makes us uncurious. View in LinkedIn

GROWTH. "Although accurate numbers are difficult to derive, reports over the last few years indicate an approximate yearly doubling in the number of systems infected by computer viruses. Clearly, computer viruses are exhibiting significant growth." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

ADAPTED SPECIES. "Computer viruses exhibit “species” with well-defined ecological niches based on host machine type, and variations within these species. These species are adapted to specific environments and will not survive if moved to a different environment." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

PREDATORS. "Some viruses also exhibit predatory behavior. For instance, the DenZuk virus will seek out and overwrite instances of the Brain virus if both are present on the same system." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

TERRITORIAL. "Other viruses exhibit territorial behavior — marking their infected domain so that others of the same type will not enter and compete with the original infection." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn