My earlier note mentioned the way single-celled organisms communicate
by generating and interpreting chemical signs. (01)
More recently, the Nobel prize in chemistry "has gone to two US
researchers whose work shed light on how the billions of cells
in our body sense their environments." (02)
Some excerpts from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19894971 :
> the receptors "serve as the gateway to the cells for many
> different neurotransmitters and hormones in our body".
>
> They capture signalling molecules both in healthy bodies and
> are the target for half of all pharmaceutical drugs.
>
> "They are crucially positioned to regulate almost every known
> physiological process in humans. As physicians, what we need
> to do in cases of disease is regulate the activity of these,
> like adrenaline, as you heard, serotonin, and dopamine,"
> Dr Lefkowitz added. (03)
In effect, all plants and animals evolved from colonies of single
cells that became more specialized and more tightly integrated. (04)
Eventually, all methods of sensing, reasoning, and acting evolved
from methods of message passing among cells and colonies of cells. (05)
John (06)
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