Page 180 - The Miracle of the Blood and Heart
P. 180
There are other examples revealing the intelligent behavior of
bacteria.
According to a report in the July, 1999, edition of the French
scientific journal Science et Vie ["Science and Life"], bacteria com-
municate with one another and make decisions based on those
communications.
Science et Vie emphasizes that this communication takes place
by means of a very complex system. On their surfaces, bacteria
have mechanisms that emit and receive electrical signals. In this
way, they send one another signals, and transmit information
about the features of their environment and the food situation
therein. On the basis of that information, they then decide
whether to multiply and when to stop doing so.
In short, tiny living things too small to be seen with the naked
eye, collect information about their surroundings, transmit this
information to one other, and later still—as a group—determine a
particular course of action.
All these examples show the presence of a consciousness that
can never be reduced to matter. From human beings, regarded as
the most complex living things, to single-celled creatures, regard-
ed as the simplest, there is an astonishing consciousness that
reaches far beyond mere matter.
So what is its source?
The Qur'an provides important information on this subject.
For example, its verses referring to honeybees reveal that the con-
scious behavior exhibited by these creatures is inspired in them by
God:
Your Lord revealed to the bees: "Build dwellings in the
mountains and the trees, and also in the structures
which men erect. Then eat from every kind of fruit
Harun
Yahya
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