SCT: Quorum Sensing—Another Skill Unique to Life

From the smallest cell to the greatest whale,
algorithmic processes like quorum sensing
distinguish the biotic from the abiotic

This article was first published by Science & Culture Today

Quorum Sensing: A Clever Trick by Microbes
by David Coppedge
Science & Culture Today, 13 December 2023

You’re exploring in the dark on a secret mission. You need a dozen compatriots to initiate operations. How do you know when the minimum number is assembled, when you cannot see them or talk to them? The answer is quorum sensing: using techniques to silently count the friends near you. When you have a quorum, you start the mission.

These days, radio communication makes the imaginary secret mission a cinch. Without sight or sound, members of a team can know where their compatriots are on hand-held devices using encrypted messaging. In ordinary life, many people use apps like Apple’s “Find My Friends” to see where family members are before starting a birthday party. We take quorum sensing for granted, but we are purposeful, intelligent agents. Distributed robot systems designed by MIT use biomimetic algorithms pre-programmed into them by engineers.

Quorum sensing is used all the time by… (wait for it…) bacteria. Microbes can wait to commence an activity until a threshold density of neighboring conspecifics is detected. This skill has been observed in other microbes, like slime molds, and in higher organisms that exhibit collective behaviors, like insects, fish, and birds. Robot designers are learning tricks from the simplest of life forms: how to communicate with and respond to other unseen members of a population….

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David Coppedge, B.S. Education, B.S. Physics, founder of Creation-Evolution Headlines, has authored over 7,000 entries at CEH since its inception. David worked as a system administrator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 14 years as a member of the Cassini team. For 9 of those years at JPL, he was Team Lead System Administrator, responsible for most of the ground system computers for the historic mission to Saturn. In this role he got to know many of the world’s leading planetary scientists. In addition, he led JPL tours and was a Cassini outreach speaker to civic groups and astronomy clubs. David is a board member and science consultant for Illustra Media and an Associate with Logos Research Associates. A nature photographer, outdoorsman, and musician, David directs CEH and other creation ministries. He also writes for the Discovery Institute, a leading think tank for intelligent design, where he has written over 1,700 articles.