Bugged by freeloaders? You are not alone. In fact, it is not uncommon in the bacteria world too, where some species of bacteria show keenness to spot the selfish ones among them and punish them, even if the punishment affects the future of group.
Humans need communication to coordinate functions, and so do bacteria; they communicate with each other to sense their population density through a bunch of chemical signals known as "quorum sensing". The population density sensed by the bacteria with the help of these signals is responsible for regulating several behaviors such as resistance to antibiotics.
