Chemical Navigation (Or, How To Get Around With No Senses)

-FUPPETS- will soon begin navigating through the blogosphere using purely chemical means, instead of any of the "human" senses. The lesson will be learned from some of the smallest creatures on the planet. Amoeba are shapeless single-celled organisms, who , without ears, eyes, nerves, or brains, nevertheless manage to travel, track, and hunt prey in their own microscopic world through smell.
There are different species of amoeba, just as with all creatures, and the one called Dictyostelium uses what scientists are calling a "chemical compass" to hunt it's prey. Amoeba's hunt bacteria following the strongest source of bacterial chemicals.

Here is an artificially lit Amoeba, with it's chemical motor/compass running, and pulling it towards it's food source in a straight line.

Without the chemical switch turned on, an amoeba extends multiple pseudopodia in all directions, seemingly at random.

Scientists have known what is used to run this chemical compass but have just now figured out what specific protein gene triggers it all. Oddly enough, it is a very similar gene in other "higher" life-forms that is used by the immune system's cells to hunt and track down viral and bacterial invaders. The infinitely complex web of life shows another strand. Scientists think that this chemical switch may "be a key navigational control for many types of cells." (Science Daily)

It is just awe-inspiring to see how many processes in living things run on a purely chemical basis. Science keeps finding micro-organisms that subsist and even thrive without any of the "normal" life giving energy sources, such as plants, sunlight, oxygen, etc. More creatures live off of chemical energy than was ever thought possible. Remember, when people tell you chemicals are bad for you (and the morons do so regularly), to reply "Water is a chemical you know." Let -FUPPETS- be your guide.