bacteria – Harmonia Philosophica

Knowing. Bacteria’s memory (x 100). Humans…

Researchers have identified a mutation that prompts bacterial cells to acquire genetic memories 100 times more frequently than they do naturally. This discovery provides a powerful research tool and could bring scientists one step closer to developing DNA-based data storage devices. (1)

We insist on making the cosmos a big computer.

We want to make it ‘work’ better.

We imagine building machines.

And yet, go ask a wise man…

There is nothing to know.

There is nothing to make work.

Ask a wise man. He will tell you.

A bacterium already does and knows much more than he does…

🙂

Bacteria mind games…

By tinkering with the gut’s bacterial residents, scientists have changed the behavior of lab animals and small numbers of people. Microbial meddling has turned anxious mice bold and shy mice social. Rats inoculated with bacteria from depressed people develop signs of depression themselves. And small studies of people suggest that eating specific kinds of bacteria may change brain activity and ease anxiety. Because gut bacteria can make the very chemicals that brain cells use to communicate, the idea makes a certain amount of sense. Though preliminary, such results suggest that the right bacteria in your gut could brighten mood and perhaps even combat pernicious mental disorders including anxiety and depression. The wrong microbes, however, might lead in a darker direction. (1)

We are part of a larger ecosystem.

Everything affecting everything.

We do not think on our own.

Other beings “think” for us as we do for other beings as well.

Accept that and you will become the wisest man ever…

Let go.

Let the cosmos guide you into crying.

Let yourself guide the cosmos into laughter.

They are not your tears.

It is your laughter.

Bacteria. Viruses. Good. Bad…

Normally, you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with Clostridium novyi.

The rod-shaped bacterium is commonly found in soil, manure or under rotting leaves. When it invades a human body, it releases flesh-eating toxins. The last place you would hope to find it is in a hospital.

But researchers used a modified version of this bacterium to destroy an advanced cancer that had spread to a patient’s shoulder. When injected directly into the shoulder tumor, the altered bacterium killed the cancer cells, sparing nearby healthy ones.

Another bad bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, is a frequent culprit in serious foodborne illnesses. But the microbe is being tested in patients with several types of cancer. Engineered with special tumor-recognition molecules, Listeria prods the immune system into action, marshaling an attack against tumors that the body might otherwise be unable to combat. (1)

Good. Bad.
Health. Disease.
Death. Life.

Stop defining things.
Stop thinking for a moment.
And everything will come back into place…

Gut, viruses, life itself…

Odds are, there’s a virus living inside your gut that has gone undetected by scientists for decades. A new study has found that more than half the world’s population is host to a newly described virus, named crAssphage, which infects one of the most common gut bacterial species, Bacteroides. This bacterium thought to be connected with obesity, diabetes and other gut-related diseases. (1)

We are all sick.
We all have viruses and bacteria inside us.
We all have that disease called “life”.
And it has 100% mortality rate.
Can you live with that?

Curiosity, microbes, observing.

A recent study of swabs taken from the rover before it launched found its surfaces contained 65 bacteria species. Engineers are supposed to put spacecraft like Curiosity through a stringent cleaning regimen before launch. Yet certain species of bacteria are known to survive even NASA’s cleanrooms. Wondering about what remained on Curiosity even after cleaning, scientists from the University of Idaho and California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory swabbed different parts of the rover before sending it off. After gathering and characterizing their bacteria, the scientists exposed them to harsh conditions, including desiccation, ultraviolet light exposure, extreme cold and extreme pH levels. About 11 percent of the bacterial strains they found survived at least two conditions. (1)

The premise that we can observe something without affecting it is one of the major dogmas of science today.
Destroying that illusion it is the first step towards the truth.
Realizing that observing something is what makes that something exist is the next step.

Towards understanding what is in front of our eyes.
Which is actually behind them.
Inside our minds I mean.
Well, you know what I mean.
Observe me well.
I am here.
Close your eyes.
I am gone.

Mars here we come!