There's a little Hannibal Lecter in all of us. But while the famous cannibal dined on chunks of his enemies and friends, most people stick to gnawing on themselves at a microscopic level. In fact, the cells of organisms from yeast to humans regularly engage in self-cannibalism. Cells chew on bits of their cytoplasm—the jellylike substance that fills their bellies — and dine on their own internal organs, although usuallywithout the fava beans and Chianti.
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