A Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything suggests that all entities are "units of consciousness" capable of knowledge and communication. Science is beginning to discover this. Here's a reprint of an article concerning communication by "extracellular vesicles (EVs)".
One way your cells communicate
with each other is through the release of tiny “bubbles,” known as
extracellular vesicles (EVs). These tiny cells are about the size of bacteria
and viruses, and they’re only visible using an electron microscope.
For many years researchers
believed EVs were carrying biological debris made up of various proteins and
genetic material. It’s now known EVs have a much more important role, acting as
ferries to send important messages to other cells.
Now a new study using
roundworms has added more insights into how these cellular messengers work.
Extracellular Vesicles May Play
a Significant Role in Human Health and Disease
Researchers from Rutgers University
revealed 335 genes in roundworms (C. elegans) that supply
information about the biology of EVs. About 10 percent of those genes were
related to the formation, release, and, possibly, function of EVs.1
EVs are found in blood, urine,
cerebrospinal fluid, and more, but it’s unknown where they originate, how
they’re made, or how their “cargo of molecules” is released.2 In
other words, EVs remain much of a mystery.
The EVs may be good or bad. For
instance, they may play a role in sending messages between cells that promote
tumor growth. The study also revealed more information about how EVs are
produced and why they carry certain “cargo.”
For instance, EVs are known to
carry proteins responsible for polycystic kidney disease, the most commonly
inherited disease in humans, but no one knows why.3 Maureen
Barr, lead author and a professor in the Department of Genetics in Rutgers'
School of Arts and Sciences, told Science Daily:4
"These
EVs are exciting but scary because we don't know what the mechanisms are that
decide what is packaged inside them … It's like getting a letter in the mail
and you don't know whether it's a letter saying that you won the lottery or a
letter containing anthrax."
C.
elegans is the perfect vehicle
for learning more about EVs because the worms have similar genes to humans.
Such research could help uncover EVs’ significance for human health and
disease. Barr continued5
"When
we know exactly how they work, scientists will be able to use EVs for our
advantage … This means that pathological EVs that cause disease could be
blocked and therapeutic EVs that can help heal can be designed to carry
beneficial cargo."
Your Body Is Constantly
Communicating
EVs are only one way your cells
receive important information. The microorganisms in your gut also play a role.
For instance, your gut’s microorganisms trigger the production of cytokines.
Cytokines are involved in regulating your immune system’s response to
inflammation and infection.
Much like hormones, cytokines
are signaling molecules that aid cell-to-cell communication, telling your cells
where to go when your inflammatory response is initiated.
There are signals between your
gut and your brain, most of which travel along your vagus nerve.6 Vagus
is Latin for “wandering,” aptly named as this long nerve travels from your
skull down through your chest and abdomen, branching to multiple organs.
Cytokine messengers produced in
your gut cruise up to your brain along the “vagus nerve highway.” Once in your
brain, the cytokines tell your microglia (the immune cells in your brain) to
perform certain functions, such as producing neurochemicals.
Some of these have negative
effects on your mitochondria, which can impact energy production and apoptosis
(cell death), as well as adversely impact the very sensitive feedback system
that controls your stress hormones, including cortisol.
So, this inflammatory response
that started in your gut travels to your brain, which then
builds on it, and sends signals to the rest of your body in a complex feedback
loop. Signals from your gut microorganisms travel elsewhere in your body to,
including to your skin.
Then there are your hormones,
or your body’s chemical messengers, which exert their effects throughout your
body, helping to coordinate biological processes like metabolism and fertility.
As reported by Frontline:7
“It
is thanks to these chemicals that distant parts of the body communicate with
one another during elaborate, and important, events. In response to a signal
from the brain, hormones are secreted directly into the blood by the glands
that produce and store them.”
Bacteria Have a Sophisticated
Method of Communication
Bacteria (both good and bad)
have a very sophisticated way of communicating with each other, and once they
receive the signal that their numbers are sufficient to carry out their genetic
function, they launch into action as a synchronized unit.
Researchers have discovered
that bacteria communicate with each other
using a chemical language called "quorum sensing." Every type of
bacteria make and secrete small molecules. When a bacterium is alone, these
molecules simply float away.
But, when there's a large
enough group of bacteria, these secreted molecules increase in proportion to
the number of bacteria emitting them. When the molecules reach a certain
amount, the bacteria can tell how many neighbors it has, and suddenly all the
bacteria begin to act as a synchronized group.
Bacteria do not only communicate
in this way between their own species; they're all "multi-lingual"
and can determine the presence and strength of other bacterial colonies.
Essentially, they can count how
many of its own kind there are compared to the amount of another species. They
then use that information to decide what tasks to carry out, depending on who's
in a minority and who's in the majority of any given population of bacteria.
Even Plants Communicate
Plants communicate with other
plants — even with plants of other species — through a complex underground
network that includes:
1.
The plants' rhizosphere (root
ball)
2.
Aerial emissions (volatile
gasses emitted by the plants)
3.
Mycelial networks in the soil
These three systems work
together forming a "plant internet" of sorts where information about
each plant's status is constantly exchanged. One of the organisms responsible
for this remarkable biochemical highway is a type of fungus called mycorrhizae. The name mycorrhiza literally
means fungus root.8
These fungi form a symbiotic
relationship with the plant, colonizing the roots and sending extremely fine
filaments far out into the soil that act as root extensions.
Not only do these networks
sound the alarm about invaders, but the filaments are more effective in
nutrient and water absorption than the plant roots themselves — mycorrhizae
increase the nutrient absorption of the plant 100 to 1,000 times.9
In one thimbleful of healthy
soil, you can find several miles of fungal filaments, all
releasing powerful enzymes that help dissolve tightly bound soil nutrients,
such as organic nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron.
Previous research has shown
that when a plant becomes infested with a pest like aphids for example, it
warns surrounding plants of the attack via this network of mycorrhizal fungi.10
This "heads up" gives
the other plants time to mount their chemical defenses in order to repel the
aphids. Mycorrhizae fungi can even connect plants of different species, perhaps
allowing interspecies communication.
Powerful Demonstration of
Interspecies Communication
Entomologist Aaron Pomerantz
was in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest when he discovered what’s described as a
“weird relationship between butterflies, ants, and a parasitic plant.11 The
plant appeared as yellow growths coating the side of a tree.
A caterpillar was eating the
yellow buds, and the caterpillars were being “tended to” by ants, possibly as a
form of protection. The ants, in turn, were stroking the caterpillars, which
would release a bead of liquid nourishment that the ants consumed.
Butterflies were plentiful near
the buds, too, and it turns out the caterpillars were the butterflies’ larval
form. The butterflies, known as the Terenthina terentia species,
even had yellow spots on their wings, presumably to blend in with the yellow
parasitic plant.
Pomerantz found “nothing like
this had ever been documented before,” but it’s a powerful demonstration of not
only the symbiotic relationship between these species but also of interspecies
communication.
Even though it’s unclear how the species are
communicating – how do the ants know the caterpillars will provide food in
exchange for protection, for instance? – it’s clear that they most certainly
are.12 It’s
another fascinating mystery of nature, and also shows that, just like within your
body, complex communication is often occurring whether you’re aware of it or
not.
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