Panda What?!

I have to come clean when it comes to pandas, they are so damn cute and just makes you want to hug them. Even though pandas are becoming endangered animals, there are things that are unique to these creatures. For instance, they have problems when it comes to mating as they are solitary. Even though 80 percent of their diet comes from bamboos,they are still considered by technical decision as carnivores (members of Order Carnivora). A fully developed panda consumes an average of 25 pounds of fibrous plants each day. As one questions comes into mind, how do pandas digest their food without having those special enzymes that herbivores have in common? Fuwen Wei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues thought that Pandas might be getting help from gut microbes. By collecting samples from feces in various types of pandas in China, they studied genes of bacteria that are within those samples and what types of bacteria are likely to be in the pandas' gut. As they look for more clues, they found out that they are 85 different species of bacteria in the pandas' gut, but one them intrigues Wei's team and that is the species in the genus Clostridium.

As we all know, species within the genus Clostridium are quite known to cause human diseases. Some are free-living bacteria, and some are also important pathogens. A well known species of Clostridium is Clostridium Tetani which causes Tetanus. One thing that is quite compelling about this genus Clostridium is that they play an essential role of breaking down cellulose for these pandas. This is a groundbreaking discovery by Wei's team on the search within the pandas' gut. As pandas don't have the special enzymes needed to break down cellulose from eating plants, these species of Clostridium sure did one hell of a job to break down those cellulose and help pandas digest their food. They also have few adaptations in their bamboo diet: they have pseudo thumbs that helps them get a grip of branches, and strong teeth and jaws which help them chew quite better. Even though most of the cellulose simply passes through their digestive system as a study in 1982 founds out that 92 percent of the cellulose consumed ended up in the feces, they still eat enough calories for a day and live a simple life.

I found this information is mind blowing. I have always thought pandas are actually herbivores but with this information I have found, I was wrong the whole time. One thing that comes through my mind, is that where does the other 20 percent of their diet come from? Did it come from humans giving away foods or do they rarely eat meat as well? Also, when and why did they switch and start eating bamboo? And are captive pandas able to survive on a more varied diet or do they really have to eat just bamboo? Lots of question needed to be answered, yet for now, no one could tell. Work Cited: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-a-carnivore-survives-on-bamboo-111994217/?no-ist=

Are you smarter than a microbe?

You may think that microbes are just tiny microorganisms that is within you and everywhere else but there are more than you think. Some of these microbes are strong; others can hibernate for a long time even thousands of years or live within environments that most of the other life forms would be gone in a blink of an eye. It is quite compelling that many of these bacteria and protists do hold a remarkable intelligence. These microbes don't even have nervous system! They only have a brain. There are ground breaking evidences of this intelligent markings for these microbes.

By communication, bacteria releases chemicals in order to communicate to others. Although, we haven't fully understand the course of this action but one of the most straightforwards was done by a Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis is a rod-shaped, gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium. They have been known to survive extreme environmental conditions by having the ability to form tough and hard endospore. If a Bacillus subtilis individuals are striving in a low-food area, they release those chemicals around them. It's a signal to their neighbors that there is small amount food or get out or we'll both die together. In response to these, other bacterias push themselves away from the area and also changing the course of the colony.

The chemical that is being released by a bacterium is called an autoinducer. Autoinducers are chemical signaling molecules that are produced and used by same type of bacteria participating in quorum sensing. Quorum sensing is the ability to coordinate gene expression according to the density of their local population or community. These microbes also have the ability to make decisions with the help of quorum sensing. Each bacterium releases chemical(autoinducers) into the surrounding area-a chemical which each bacterium will be able to detect through their receptors on the outer wall. And if there's a community of bacteria around, all of them will also release the same chemical and if reaches a certain level, it will trigger a change in their behavior. As for the bad guys, pathogenic and disease-causing bacteria sometimes use quorum sensing to decide when to attack on their host. When they gather enough numbers, they will overwhelmed and attack the immune system or other systems and your body. Their actions or ways also might give us clues on how to fight back against them. This is also how we treat people better and more efficient by understanding their ways of living, weaknesses and many more.

As we have known as well, microbes do tend to form communities or colonies. When they do, they form biofilm which most likely to be found in the water pipes, kitchen surfaces, teeth, and etc. They also been found on the human digestive system- anywhere where there is a large amount of water. Many different species live with or within these colonies, make themselves useful by taking down waste, co-operating to look for food sources and defending each other from external threats such as antibiotics. Microbes can be also unpredictable and yet fascinating. They kind of the same like us. They organize or think just like a human in a group. We, as humans in a country or communities, we tend to help each other to make a better place for everyone, adapt and so on just like what these microbes are doing. They are more becoming smarter and more intelligent as time passes through. But as a question comes into my mind, what if these microbes become smarter beyond the unimaginable that they would pose as a threat to us humans when that time would happen? Could they evolve into something more than a microbes? No one knows for sure but when that time comes, I hope we are ready for it. Cited: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html