Natures wonders:bacteria fight each other (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, February 16, 2013, 12:32 (4296 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Bacteria have defenses against each other:-http://phys.org/news/2013-02-deadly-bacteria-remarkable-precision.html-QUOTE: Bacteria live in huge communities that involve cooperation as well as competition.
"This may reflect ecological decisions that are made by bacteria to form mixed biofilms living together, either in the extracellular environment or even inside the human host where they coexist in large, diverse communities," Mekalanos said. "When we first embarked on this work, we were really surprised to find out that the bacteria could respond to each other in such an intimate and dynamic way."-Could you possibly find a clearer instance of the "intelligent cell" at work, or of the evolutionary process of cooperation as expounded by Margulis? Communication between individual cells, the formation of communities that live and work together, making use of whatever environment they find themselves in...Isn't this the key to adaptation and innovation within living organisms, thereby leading to new organs and new species? No need for random mutations, no problem with gaps in the fossil record, no problem with saltation, no problem with the Cambrian Explosion... "Intelligent cells" are the answer to all the evolutionary questions except that of their origin.