scientists just figured out why people living at high altitude rarely get diabetes when oxygen drops, red blood cells switch into a different metabolic mode and start absorbing way more glucose from the blood. your body literally reprograms itself based on the environment. the thing that stuck with me: the cells don't "decide" to do this. there's no central command. each one independently responds to the same pressure signal and converges on the same strategy. distributed systems solving problems without coordination is the most underrated pattern in nature. markets do it. immune systems do it. blockchains attempt it. most of our "intelligent design" is just trying to catch up with what biology figured out by accident.