How Do Microbes Make Decisions?

[@brightongoodwin1267]

A microbe is never late, nor is he early, he flounders about precisely when he means to.

[@ashleelarsen7765]

Wow bro proFOUND

[@sapelesteve]

😂😂Well said Gandalf! 🧙‍♂🧙‍♂

[@naturalistmind]

The Dao of the germ

[@sabatino1977]

Dao of the Ring

[@zombai89]

Is he a he?

[@jaydogg2003]

So slime mold not only remembers that it got cold, but it also remembers the timing?! Mind = blown! Also, thank you for asking the big questions (i.e. "are we just machines or something more") without pushing viewers toward a particular answer. Love this channel!

[@oberonpanopticon]

We’re the product of a billions of years long chain of self replicating automata/self perpetuating chemical reaction that somehow managed to gain consciousness and intelligence somewhere along the way

[@jaydogg2003]

@@oberonpanopticon Yes, "somehow managed to gain consciousness and intelligence" - that is kinda the big important leap that begs the question of how that is possible. On the purely materialistic worldview, you, me and everything else is the product of these "chemical reactions". So, were those the chemicals talking to me just now? Is this response driven by chemical reactions? Or is there more to it? This is why I think it is often better to let the question hang (as Hank did) than to try and force a worldview that is far from proven on others.

[@oberonpanopticon]

@@jaydogg2003 My apologies, I wasn’t trying to force it on you. That’s just my opinion on stuff. And my apologies if you aren’t accusing me of forcing a worldview on you, it can be hard to interpret the intent of stuff in text form sometimes. And yes, of course the question of consciousness correlates to the physical brain is a big one. I hope I live to see it answered. Or at least literally any progress at all made towards that.

[@jaydogg2003]

@@oberonpanopticon All good. I should have been a bit more thoughtful in my response. Thanks for clarifying!

[@ListenToMcMuck]

Such a fascinating story about the conditioning of a slime mold. And as much as I'd like to take it seriously, I can't find much evidence of it in the linked sources... Well, that's why I think Hank might be pushing a little harder than you'd like to think. PS: Come on @Oberon ... don't be such a Stentor!

[@duffahtolla]

I love how at 4:20 the Euplotes checks out whats in front of it with its cirri. "Ooo! What's this?!"

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Like cat's whiskers, just with more mucus

[@barelyafloatfarm809]

I love showing my youngest 11 the microcosmose and anyone else that's near. One of his favorites are Stentor. His answer is just because we are machines doesn't mean we're not more. Thank you all for sharing.

[@terminus9897]

The slime mold metabolically reacting to what it expected to happen not only reveals that it can create memories, but that it has a sense of time which i find almost equally as interesting. Edit: this also shows that it has a successful system at correlating time and memories, which is something even humans with our incredibly complex brain can find hard.

[@Daktangle]

Learning how single celled life remembers and learns I assume will be a stepping stone to helping us understand how multicelluar life remembers and learns.

[@TMtheScratcher]

we are so focused on that organ called "brain" to do this job, that we blind ourselves to see alternative mechanics purely based on proteins and molecules within a single cell. And I can't blame anyone, as we already know that incredible many brain cells are required to do this task. Having just even a fraction of a single celled organism dedicated to this task seems just out of this world - and that's exactly what it is.

[@shoot-n-scoot3539]

This video hits on more than one subject; microbes desire to congregate together, memory of slime molds and habituation, microbe senses leading to our own senses. Fascinating subjects needing more fleshing out. Thanks for this intro.

[@cyrilio]

While I wouldn't buy a microscope I really dig that you offer them. Cool to see you help new microscopists get in the game.

[@chadkline4268]

Telescope in reverse.

[@hrhqueene]

I want that microscope SO MUCH

[@chadkline4268]

@@hrhqueene ask Santa Claus 🎄

[@GrandDukeMushroom]

I always wanted a microscope so I can research the goo and shit coming out of my face and pores.... lol

[@BeaChapman]

@@hrhqueene Did you ever get it? I love mine.

[@KriegZombie]

The microbe knows where it is at all times. It knows this because this knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is, it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the microbe from a position where it is to a position where it isn't.

[@prakash2k778]

Quite similar to computer program

[@KriegZombie]

@@prakash2k778 True, but my comment is a joke about missiles.

[@prakash2k778]

@@KriegZombie not taken literally

[@tammy6004]

I live life like this. However, my guidance subsystem is defective. Pretty sure the parts were made in North Korea.

[@suyci]

@@tammy6004 How do you know? Do your guidance protocols keep showing you pictures of a smiling tubby manchild who you can't help but revere?

[@Aceofheartless]

I read a book about this once, called "Wetware: A computer in every living cell" by Dennis Bray, it was very interesting and really re-ignited my interest in single-celled organisms

[@harshvardhan5893]

I too downloaded

[@aliensarerealttsa6198]

All biology students I've spoken to: microbes, et al, don't make decisions and have no level of consciousness. They just react to internal and external stimuli. Grad students (and most scientists) are so dumb. XD Not capable of critical thought or logic. Thanks, Journey, for covering what I was talking/argueing about in one of your other videos.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

A computer is too simple an analogy

[@oberonpanopticon]

@@aliensarerealttsa6198Thought? Probably not. Logic? Well, they’re subject to the laws of physics just like the rest of us, and they’re incredibly complex…

[@Beryllahawk]

I love this channel so much, especially the pure joy in Hank's voice, that we get to hear so, so often. The joy and wonder of "we don't know" and that extra little shiver that always goes with unanswered questions. These videos bring a smile to my face no matter how awful I might be feeling. Thank you, yet again, to Hank, to James, and to the entire Journey team

[@LuisAldamiz]

You touched on a particularly important "philosophical" issue here: what's consciousness. Nice.

[@luckydueces5873]

Another thing about slime mold I saw is it will take precisely the most efficient route to food when developing and we’ve even based some highways off of its efficiency

[@bananatassium7009]

emergence is incredible!!! feels like the slime mold's way of being and unnatural/complex reactions from simple rules is rather similar to neurons in humans, kinda like forests

[@e.s.r5809]

That's fascinating about the slime mould! Do they have a sense of relative time?? Or were the scientists unintentionally doing something else to stimulate them, like checking up on them at regular intervals? And the moulds remembered those changing light conditions from the microscope setup? Either of those is WILD. Single celled organisms seeming to have Pavlovian responses? Mind blown.

[@barelyafloatfarm809]

That would be a good one to retest with different lighting to remove the variable. I would love to see this. I know many experiments have been done with them but what's one more? Either way they at least remembered one variable.

[@ronaldmorgan7632]

Pavlov's slime mold.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

What about taking single cell skin from a Frog and it somehow being able to navigate its environment and learn? Was never evolved to do that, yet it does it instantly once placed in that environment; it somehow just 'knows' The mystery of life is extensive

[@velvetmagnetta3074]

The slime mould was actually reading the schedule the scientists left out on the table next to its petri dish! 🤯 No, but that was a really good question, @e.s.r5809 - I hope the researchers thought of it and will do some further experiments. Scientists are obsessed with slime moulds these days, so I expect they'll find out soon!

[@animalpeeps]

I think of this so fricken often. Isn't it crazy that our actions are just molecules and particles doing these actions, and at what point in the entire chain of events is the action our own, vs just the nature of particles themselves?

[@Badficwriter]

It helps if you accept that all those pieces aren't controlling you, they ARE you, part of you. It is nonsensical to say we have no free will because we follow biological orders because those orders ARE ours. The biology IS us. The true question seems to be how much can part of us disagree with the other part of us? And we know we can because we struggle with conflicting desires all the time.

[@LimeyLassen]

It's humbling to think about how much progress was made on evolution before even the first sponges and seaweeds appeared, let alone fish or bugs. It's like big animals are using fancy new software on reliable old hardware.

[@zolacnomiko]

Slime mold at timestamp 7:24 is such an incredibly beautiful image!!

[@nicolasgoulet4091]

Do you have a take on basal cognition? Because to me, after reading the litterature, I feel like we could talk about *cognition* in these living organisms. And I feel that before we can even stand a chance of reverse-engineering human cognition, we have to be able to reverse-engineer the cognition of stentors for example. I know it is not such an original take but I do believe that we have still SO much to learn from the cognition of these incredible organisms.

[@dinkules]

Someone has to start.

[@skbee3393]

My pregnant cat loves when I put on these videos, much appreciated for these. Lots of respect for you and your brother. You even managed to make a pregnant cat calm down while I play these.

[@bingusbongus9807]

her kittens will grow up to be little intellectuals

[@johannageisel5390]

Can confirm: When you simply roll up into a ball, the threat cannot really do anything. I use this strategy daily.

[@Thenikksmeister]

The existential questions this show always poses just absolutely dumbfounds me every time. I love this channel

[@Katalabaino]

Hank, your voice and narration is very soothing, just beautiful, and thank You for the journey.

[@oberonpanopticon]

Videos like this make me remember that the eons before multicellular life evolved were complex and fascinating in their own right

[@28th_St_Air]

The sequence around 3:23 is incredible. Your depth of field makes it seem like we’re watching them in an aquarium and they’re 3D, so is this stereo or some other technique?

[@jaydonbooth4042]

They talk about their various methods in their "Microscope Upgrades We've Made Along The Way" compilation, and "Microbes Don't Really Look Like Anything" video. It really is amazing what James can do with his microscope.

[@cosmoplakat9549]

As a freshwater fishkeeper, watching an aquarium up close is the best activity in the world, but filming it isn't always so easy. The glass glare is real.

[@Nobody_Special310]

You had me at plan achromatic objectives.

[@hershey3]

u ball?

[@vapormissile]

​@@hershey3 photographs? Aye? Candid photographs? Aye? Say no more, say no more. "Achromatic," she says, aye? Photographs?

[@loop78]

There are no words for how much I appreciate this channel.

[@LateralTwitlerLT]

Thank you! I'm one of those who've long wondered about the answer(s) to these questions, and every step on the journey to get that knowledge is fascinating and inspiring to us following along.

[@HocusPocusist]

Glad to see a video on Quorum sensing! Cellular communication and plant symbiosis/signaling is fascinating!

[@greatsol2444]

You’ll never fool us, Hank. Your voice just oozes science, even if we can’t see your face, we know it’s you!

[@Fractal_blip]

This video is a work of art. Also, the stendor looks like it loves tickling other organisms.

[@scrambo6182]

Explaining unicellular cellular biology in terms of machinery, and genetics in terms of code, is bizarrely useful. It's just the inherent, universal 'best' way of doing things, whether made of meat, metal, or individual molecules.

[@Charity4Chokora]

350$ - 500$ Yes it's completely worth it, James even has his brand sticker on it

[@GrandDukeMushroom]

My favorite micro organism in this one is (the in this video unnamed one) at 5:44 and on for a bit, the worm like thing who is seemingly coming out of the abyss to feed with flagella lacing it's 'mouth' parts. Amazing stuff.

[@AlmostEthical]

I see reflexes as being the building blocks of consciousness. Sometimes it is not easy to tell which is which.

[@diemattekanzlei9124]

This helps answers one of my deepest questions when I began to study biology

[@brettw173]

"We are robots made of robots made of robots." - Daniel Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist

[@thewiseturtle]

We are generated by the laws of physics, and we are machines, but there is no just about it. We animals are the most complex machines in the universe, as far as we know. If single celled organisms are the story Jack and Jill, then we multicellular animals are Much Ado About Nothing, or, perhaps the whole collection of Shakespeare plays combined. We are a book, but we're not in the slightest "just" a book.

[@barelyafloatfarm809]

My son put it simpler but basically the same. We are machines but that doesn't mean we are just machines. Beautifully put

[@VoidHalo]

One question I got really curious about was how a flagellum, or cilia, can move without any muscles or nerves or really anything we associate with movement. Ho-ly cow is it a complicated answer. Short answer is, lots of proteins working together like a motor... I think? But it seems you need a degree in biology to understand it deeper than that. I'd love to see an episode that explains either, or both in any amount of detail. Though I'm sure there are many more interesting topics to be covered first.

[@ronaldmorgan7632]

Search on "Michael Behe". Guy knows everything about just that.

[@stardefrance2979]

So from what I have learned in uni, muscles are associated with nervous system, myosin and actin which are the compounds of muscular fibers needs atp and calcium which is released when there is a nervous influx. In the case of flagella, there is no muscular fibers since it’s only one cell that’s moving (I will take the example of spermatozoa since I’ve only learned about this) but there is also the use of atp and calcium In a cell, there is multiple proteins forming what we call the cytoskeleton. One of them are called microtubules, in microtubules, there are motor proteins (like myosin which is in muscles) that can induce movement on theses microtubules. Now for the flagella, it’s composed of the axoneme, which are microtubules and dynein arms for the most part of it. When there is a calcium influx (the calcium is stored) and presence of ATP (which is made by mitochondria in the case of sperm cells) is makes the dynein move, (not all the dyneins moves in the same time, which creates that wave like movement) and makes the whole flagella move and push the cellular head forward. Now the calcium is released when the cell detects chemicals called chemoattractants (like the stuff your immune cells detect when there is an infection, prostaglandin for example) so the cell moves toward thoses chemicals, so it’s not really doing it with any free will unlike complex life forms that can induce their own movement with the nervous system :)

[@catpoke9557]

There is a hypothesis that the concept of consciousness exists as a spectrum in all things. It sounds like pseudoscience mumbo jumbo, but then you consider things like microbes, and think of how many aspects of consciousness you'd need to remove from yourself to consider yourself no longer conscious, and you start to understand why this hypothesis exists. Perhaps what we think of as consciousness traditionally is just the ability to sense that you are conscious to begin with. Not to understand it- that would be awareness. Just to sense it. To have the ability to know something. If that's the case, what does it mean to know? To be able to remember? To be able to feel it as it happens, regardless of if you remember it after? Or something else? If you can't remember what you did two seconds ago, would that really mean you were unconscious as you did it? It's just a big crazy cycle. The more you think of what it means to be conscious the less you understand.

[@RandyStimpson]

Some organisms may not exist entirely in 3 dimensions. If part of the body is outside the three dimensions we experience, memory may exist that we can't detect.

[@gustavoguti27]

KZbin's algorithm is so broken. I'm subscribed since the beginning but it didn't showed any of your videos on my feed for more than a year. Now I accidentally clicked on a chicken video and now it assumed I'm obsessed with them and only shows me videos about rising chickens

[@leeleaman8057]

The absolute pleasure of hearing ‘we don’t know’ and knowing some day we most likely will. Thank you for sharing this, love all your videos (:

[@M-E-l6q]

This is the most intelligent and fascinating way I've ever seen someone say "no one knows"

[@ThatFreeWilliam]

Is think cell? Is think protein? Where does think end? Is think legs?

[@anywallsocket]

their physicality can double as computational networks, and natural selection would couple the functionality of these networks with the stability of their biological functionality. a brain is a luxury you evolve when you can, you don't need it for rudimentary linear regressions, memory, etc.

[@Ossian-dr1vr]

Well for starters a brain is composed of several individuals communicating. In the single cells case it litterally can't have a brain on it's own. If you think about it a multicellular creature is just a hive of single cellular creatures.

[@chippysteve4524]

That episode was a work of art. I wonder if the wee beasties at the end(who can clearly measure time intervals) are also proud owners of the gene that grows the err metronome crystal in the 'higher' life forms,from bees to brigadiers, which seems to have us all running on the same clock speed/metric.. Maybe Descartes was correct(ish) and all animals (including us) are significantly more clockwork than we would like to imagine. If I was into making puns,I would point out that we already try to "Use the Quartz,Luke".

[@novi0]

It is incredible how fundamentally its all just patterns

[@spilledink849]

Everytime I hear a question like "How do microbes remember?" I always think "Does it really matter?" But by the end of the video I'm really interested! I like the machine comparison like, microorganisms are made up of a ton of physical and chemical machines, and we're (I think) made up of a bunch of microorganisms so it makes sense to compare them!

[@dreamyrhodes]

Slime mold is basically a brain creeping around.

[@Thepher6]

Love these questions about intelligence and memory and "thinking"

[@GamerDave1974]

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT GIANT THING THAT CAME FROM UNDER THEM? Holy cow that made me say WTF!?!?

[@Alexandru_Narcis_Popescu]

I am happy that I am subscribed to this channel. Besides the scientific value and beauty of the images, philosophical problems and questions also arise.

[@ashleelarsen7765]

Your microscope is really pretty James, good job.

[@andersledell8643]

I wonder if the stentor habituation is just facilitated through endocytosed strech/baroreceptors, kind of like how GPCR endocytosis leads to reduced efficacy of some drugs that act on the sympathetic nervous system in the human body.

[@wolfpytlak2786]

Yeah, this makes sense, some kind of stimulus induced receptor downregulation if the stimulus is prolonged

[@anthrop0phag]

definitely one of my favourite videos from you guys :)

[@sudantarescosmonautics9422]

It's like: on what stage of complexity consciousness appears for the first time? Are cells conscious for at least some degree?

[@kellydalstok8900]

If it reacts to its environment I’d say it is conscious. Like life itself, consciousness seems to be on a scale from simple to complex.

[@sudantarescosmonautics9422]

@@kellydalstok8900 I feel some Kurzgesagt vibe in what you say.

[@BlueRidgeBubble]

​@@kellydalstok8900 This is part of animism All things have consciousness It's just a matter of speed and complexity

[@bugjams]

Well, a simple computer program like a calculator doesn't have consciousness. It just reacts to the inputs you give it. A learning AI algorithm is just the same thing, but with lots more parts. And yet it appears to be close to being conscious and being able to learn and adapt. So just apply this to biology. The scary conclusion that a lot of people come to is that "free will" isn't real, and that everything you do is just an _extremely_ complex series of inputs and outputs. Of course, it feels more "real" than that because there's so many calculations happening per second, that you'll never be able to look at all of them individuality. It just creates a "blur" of chemical and electrical signals, that we call consciousness. Remember - on some level, computers are physical things. Tiny nanotech gates and parts physically moving in response to electrical inputs. It's just very, very complicated. And our brains aren't really any different. On some level, it's all physical. Just one protein interacting with another protein, causing chain reactions that never vary from one to the next. A lot of people find this idea discomforting, and so scientists are desperately looking for ways to explain emergence and free will. The scary part is, we keep coming up empty.

[@maximillianalexander7052]

The commentators voice is hypnotic and relaxing 😊

[@wither5673]

Makes me think its better to think of their ''cognoscente behavior'' as a program on a computer rather then an ''understanding'' the way complex macro animals like us do.

[@RobouVideos]

Video starts at 1:30.

[@AdamShaiken]

Quorum sensing...is one pathway.

[@fourthofjulygaming3795]

Oh that’s real? I thought Star Wars just made that up.

[@RJFerret]

Thanks for mentioning that, the Wikipedia article was enlightening and amazing to learn about, especially in terms of ant and bee nest selection, beyond the bacterial and microbe processes.

[@curtiswilson859]

Fantastic as always! I can’t wait for y’all to dive in to Quorum Sensing, this video seems like a great lead into it

[@Shakespearept]

Such as fascinating video. Even without the really cool music and fascinating topic/narration, the video of the microorganisms alone was completely amazing. Nice video to watch in the morning when I was feeling sick. Got my mind off of that and on to something way more interesting.

[@liamkneeson8866]

These videos couldn't be any made any better. Such a great job

[@larryjeffryes6168]

They seem like Roombas except much more reliable.

[@Oracle842]

🦋 Thank you for sharing your knowledge and live footage of microbes. I look forward to my first purchase of a Microscope for future research purposes. Have a lovely journey. 🦋

[@DonCarlione973]

I love stuff like this! I'm a big science nerd but microscopy is a favorite! I used to put everything I could find under the microscope when I was a kid. I'm not going to lie most of it came from my body haha. Ya know, the usual hair, cheek cells, blood, urine ,skin cells (alive&dead) Im new to the channel But I'm going to be going through all your videos lol. 👍🏼👍🏼

[@dorkusjones2752]

I love this channel

[@tor1302]

Great video. I have a question. Does the stentors have microtubules or any type of cytoskeleton?

[@GamerDave1974]

By the way that giant thing was acting as it tried to pass through underwater . I would think that that line of cells goes deeper than we can see.

[@apathyreview3964]

Never mind can it think, how does it know how long an hour is? Damn.

[@kpk1958]

Beautiful work!

[@mrpremium5493]

Deserves more attention, great video

[@santiagoacevedo4066]

Tal vez funciona y es solo una idea, que proteínas que se gastan por su uso y se reponen a ritmos lentos. Entonces digamos que si la proteína de fuerza está a buen nivel como un tanque de gasolina y la proteína del movimiento si está baja entonces es probable que si no gasta en fuerza no se contraiga y así en todos sus ciclos

[@abelferquiza1627]

¡Por fin en español! ¡gracias!

[@Corpomancer]

We are all a branch of our past, expanding into ever bigger repeating patterns. Trapped in the passage of time as shapes of our matter. Riding the energy waves of reality.

[@qnicks23434]

Just to be clear: the answer to the title question is "we have no idea". Right?

[@meepmorp3569]

I can't believe stentors have a greater memory than i

[@whatleft123]

Fun fact: I never move, the universe does. I learned how to do this in a dream, but forgot it in another dream. (stolen and altered from futurama)

[@PhillipWG]

Thank you thank you thank you🎉 you answered the one question that I have had since I first started watching your videos. Ever since I saw that thing try to eat the algae that was too big for it and then backed off the algae. I've been watching the rest of your videos with this question in my head how are they making decisions if they don't have brains. But now I get it. The machine just has all of these settings and functions and sensors and that's super cool.

[@hilbillie]

Thank you. I loved this!!!

[@anonymousperson8259]

Slime molds have time awareness? 😮

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@karmicavenger3551]

I love it. Such a deep one.

[@GuildOfCalamity]

Great video. You might want to add a dampener to your mic, or some form on audio gate/clamp, because you can hear the propping and cracking in your speech.

[@zacharywong483]

Fantastic video, Microcosmos team!

[@mazyar_]

Do micro organisms have micro souls?

[@michaeljordan215]

Microbes don't make decisions, they react. They are complex chemistry that responds to stimuli. In fact it is difficult to decide where that stops. Is it ants? Slugs? Maybe even humans are simply reactive and maybe even the universe. Therefore everything that happens was already going to happen the moment the universe was started.

[@justinwheeler5614]

Time. Perceived time. Perception. Space. Infinitesimal space. Infinite. A Tunnel?

[@samanthahowlett8787]

Such a cool episode

[@stevenkarnisky411]

How does a stentor know what its predators are? Encountering one means it will be consumed, thereby preventing it from passing the memory to progeny. How does it come to realize that one bump is not a threat, but another, harder bump is? It cannot learn from watching its neighbor be consumed. Is there a chemical signal from a dying stentor, mixed with the chemical signal of a predator that passes along the information needed to learn? Ultimately, do stentors, or other microorganisms make decisions based upon natural selection or based upon experiential learning?

[@andylane3739]

i feel so peaceful now

[@joeblack4436]

I would propose that somehow they are actively scoring behavioural presets and prioritising the implementation of said behavioural presets based on a number of metrics. The slime mould's timing just blows up the complexity. Whatever else. It hints at some fiendishly complicated mechanism. Though that's par for the course in biology.

[@rewe3536]

I don't know man... I just do what my heart tells me

[@inkpenproductions3373]

It's flagellum all the way down.

[@AAK540]

I personally believe everything is conscious. I don't think you need a brain to be conscious, I do believe you need certain higher functions to recognise yourself as being a living being, but Without them you just don't register your reflection or self in the same manner. All creatures have some form of consciousness.

[@Ghee_Buttersnaps]

Love you guys have fun

[@EPC-ue2ci]

What is the depth in micrometers? I see its 200 on one scene so what is the depth that we can see? This would help me understand why those larger organisms come in and out of the scene bc they seem to go in deeper and come up to surface.

[@kennyecheverry5684]

I like this one because it's about something we still don't have the answers to. 🧠🤯

[@kennyecheverry5684]

Also lol at "weird chill content" couldn't have described this channel better

[@cvp5882]

I'd like to think it's all about chemical concentration gradients, and the natural tendency of reactions to settle at their equilibrium determined by their k value. The driving force the brings reactions to equilibrium could be felt and sensed by other chemicals if the gradient produced in the cell is at different concentrations other than it's equilibrium point. The reaction wants to proceed to equilibrium but it can't because of some cellular process, so the potential energy just builds up and can influence the outcome of other cell functions, essentially acting as a sensing mechanism.