Schwarm

My recent leisure reading is der Scharm (群) of Frank Schatzing.

The plot is simple: The ocean that we know is actually controlled by single-cell organisms that operate in groups (or swarms, hence the title of the novel). This organism, which is called yrr in the book, has a form of collective intelligence based on inheritable memories, which are passed generation after generation by manipulating parts of their DNA. (The situation is somewhat similar to the hypervariability segment of our B lymphocytes.)

And, the problem is, although yrr has existed on Earth (specifically, in the ocean) for hundreds of millions of years, it is becoming more agitated recently. Many of our activities - oil mining, pollution, global warming, and what not - are devastating to the ocean. As a result, yrr set up one goal: To eliminate the human race.

Sounds horrible, eh? I agree it is. The story is thrilling. But the book does more than that. Schatzing has done extensive research on related topics before he started writing, and, as an amateur scientist, there is much to learn here and there from this arm-breaking paperback.

Germans are always meticulous.