The latest paper for #microtwjc focuses on finding a new way to sense metabolites inside of living bacteria. Bacteria need to regulate their nutrient intake, because like people, they don't want to get too fat or thin.
If there isn't enough nutrient in the environment, they need to conserve what they have, and if more appears, they need to consume it as efficiently as possible, but if they did that all the time, it could cause them problems.