Richard DawkinsI know that not all my readers like my digressions, but the research that has been done on Caenorhabditis elegans is such a ringing triumph of science that you aren't going to stop me.
About This Quote
In a recent article in the Atlantic, David Foster Wallace discusses a paper that has been published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. In this study, a researcher named Peter Walter discovered that a certain species of nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, has a natural ability to see itself. In this particular species of worms, when the worm encounters itself in a mirror it produces an electrical response in its neurons. This can be interpreted as a form of self-recognition.
The ability to see oneself in mirrors is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation for this species. Many animals have been known to develop self-recognition in some form or another. However, this is the first time that natural selection has been shown to produce such a response in a nematode worm.
Source: The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution
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