in the membrane and the flagella means that, in effect, E. coli has a short-term memory. It may last for just a few seconds but is powerful enough to say either “No problem, nothing to do!” or “This is not good, flagella, start flailing!” The short-term memory is based on tiny changes in the sensors and the chemicals they emit. This is simple information-processing equipment, but already we have the three key components of all biological information processing: inputs, processing, and outputs.
