In Amoeba World, Cheating Doesn't Pay

• Dictyostelium disdoidem, a type of amoeba known as slime mold, acquires food by having large numbers get into a clump resting on top of a stalk made up of the bodies of some slime molds, who must willingly sacrifice themselves.
• Some of the slime molds are "cheaters" and will stay in the back of the colony or push others to the front so that they will never have to die in the stalk
• However, a group of mutant slime molds has evolved to actively resist the efforts of the "cheaters".
• While the "resistors" do not always defeat the "cheaters", a study showed that the ratio of resistors to cheaters did increase over time, in favor of the resistors.
• Also, the resistors do not try to claim dominance over the normal slime molds, but instead are willing to protect them, and sacrifice themselves if need be.

I found this story very interesting because it shows extremely simple and unintelligent organisms telling the difference between right and wrong. The mutant resistors acting like police and keeping the lazy cheaters in line seemed very advanced for being like an amoeba. It was most amazing though, that the resistors would then act all noble and continue helping the normal amoebas despite the fact that they could have easily used their strength to gain the upper hand in survival. As they were described in the article, these "altruistic" amoebas were purposely decreasing their chance of survival in order to help others, even though they themselves had the best chance to begin with. Finally, I found it ironic that these amoebas, perhaps one of the least advanced forms of life, were more noble and selfless than some human beings, who credit themselves as being so evolved, while they themselves are bettered by a few amoebas!

Citation:
"In Amoeba World, Cheating Doesn't Pay." PhysOrg.com - Science News, Technology, Physics, Nanotechnology, Space Science, Earth Science, Medicine. Web. 13 Mar. 2010. .