I wonder what mitochondria dream about. Do they have elections? Politics? Their own understanding of the universe, that somehow ends on the skin surface?
Alive != sentient
Mitochondria Are Alive
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Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#12As a layman I'm kind of baffled by the enduring pop-sci interest in mitochondria. To me the far more interesting organelle is the ribosome. This elegant self-replicating machine that is highly conserved across lifeforms is fascinating and much closer to the origin of life than mitochondria. How did ribosomes evolve? Are the ribosomes that we see in modern organisms the first design that did evolve? Why are they highl…
The mitochondria and their dysfunction are likely the basis of most aspects of aging, so an intensive interest in them is understandable.
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#13Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#14I don’t understand the headline (yes I skimmed the article). Why would mitochondria not be alive? What does that even mean?
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#15> If one considers bacteria as living entities — and all biologists seem to — then it is impossible to explain why mitochondria are not.
There seems to be a strange, half-hubris, half-pride vein that runs through Humanity that would see us as lesser for being hosts to benevolent bacteria, despite us very obviously being unable to survive without benevolent bacteria.
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#16"In the early 19th century, "
With that level of proofreading, I'm not sure what else was wrong in the article...
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#17For a fictional macro version of the Margulis hypothesis, I'd recommend 'Alien Clay' by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#18As a layman I'm kind of baffled by the enduring pop-sci interest in mitochondria. To me the far more interesting organelle is the ribosome. This elegant self-replicating machine that is highly conserved across lifeforms is fascinating and much closer to the origin of life than mitochondria. How did ribosomes evolve? Are the ribosomes that we see in modern organisms the first design that did evolve? Why are they highl…
The mitochondria and their dysfunction are likely the basis of most aspects of aging, so an intensive interest in them is understandable.
Also thought to be involved with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME).
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#19I expect such lively news to make this comment section the powerhouse of the front page. :^)
It's funny that this phrase has had such staying strength, while the key word in it, "powerhouse," has fallen out of fashion. The more modern American English way to phrase it would be "the power plant of the cell."
Can you describe the distinction?
Re: Mitochondria Are Alive
#20I don’t understand the headline (yes I skimmed the article). Why would mitochondria not be alive? What does that even mean?
I imagine it's similar to how viruses are not considered to be alive, since they cannot reproduce without a host cell?
But I have never been a fan of that argument either, both seem alive to me.