The complexity of life extends even to the smallest of creatures, including bacteria.  In this TED lecture Bonnie Bassler, a molecular biologist from Princeton, discusses her discovery of quorum sensing — the chemical mechanism by which all bacteria are able to communicate with both among their own species and outside of it.  Through this system, genetically “simple” bacteria can organize complex group behaviors.  These findings have already begun to have a massive impact on the field of antibiotics and our understanding of evolution.

The discovery of this communication system once again reinforces the beauty and order of the creation while still providing a scientific understanding of it.  After all, why would God choose to work outside physical laws when those laws are so elegantly defined?

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