title: My encounters with bacteria--learning about communication, cooperation and choice.
abstract: My journey into the physics of living systems began with the most fundamental organisms on Earth, bacteria, that three decades ago were perceived as solitary, primitive creatures of limited capabilities. A decade later this notion had faded away and bacteria came to be recognized as the smart beasts they are, engaging in intricate social life through a sophisticated chemical language. Acting jointly, these tiny organisms can sense the environment, process information, solve problems and make decisions so as to thrive in harsh environments. The bacterial power of cooperation manifests in their ability to develop large colonies of astonishing complexity. The number of bacteria in a colony can amount to many billions, yet they exchange 'chemical tweets' that reach each and every one of them so they all know what they're all doing, each cell being both actor and spectator in the bacterial Game of Life. I share my encounters with bacteria, what I learned about the secrets of their social life and wisdom of the crowd, and why and how, starting as a theoretical physicist, I found myself studying social intelligence of bacteria. The story ends with a bacteria guide to cyber-war on cancer.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel. Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, and Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005-1827, USA.
authors.forename: Eshel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ben-Jacob
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D056265:Microbial Interactions