Stories by John Tyler Bonner

Two cellular slime molds can coexist in the same sail and yet maintain their identity. They do so by emitting and responding to different chemicals, both of which have now been identified

A new synthesis of the principles that underlie all animal societies

The substance that attracts social amoebae to one another to form a sluglike mass has recently been identified. It turns out that the same substance also acts as a "messenger" in mammalian cells

Slime-mold amoebae are free-living microorganisms that periodically gather together to form macroscopic fruiting bodies. It now seems several that secreted gases play several important roles in this development

Certain amoebae gather to form a mass of spores and a stalk. The way in which spore cells and stalk cells segregate may shed light on how the cells of many-celled organisms differentiate into various types

The sudden appearance of mushrooms after a summer rain is one of the more impressive spectacles of the plant world. How does the mushroom achieve this remarkably fast growth?

The British biologist who died four years ago at 88 was a man of unique mold. His great book On Growth and Form dealt with all life in terms of physics and mathematics

The unicorn is legendary, but the horn is not. Although an early naturalist discovered the animal from which it came, modern biologists still find it a puzzling problem

The microscopic green globe that dwells in ponds is a significant member of the evolutionary line between the one-celled and many-celled organisms

The independent cells of Dictyostelium periodically gather into an organism of many cells. The study of this peculiar phenomenon is a felicitous example of the scientific method