the amazing slime mold P. polycephalum

[scruffy]

It's a slime mold. In science fiction movies they called it "the blob".

It's acellular - but polynucleated.

And, it's smart.

When food is placed at one end of a maze, p. polycephalum will retract from all corridors except the one with the food. When two food sources are present, it will retract from everything except the shortest path between the two food sources.

When multiple food sources are present, physarum polycephalum solves the "transportation problem" by building a Steiner tree.

P. Polycephalum also has memory. After conditioned learning it will anticipate results even when the conditioning stimulus is no longer presented.

It does all this without a nervous system.

Physarum polycephalum - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[1srelluc]

Dem brain trust?

 

[toobfreak]

It's a slime mold. In science fiction movies they called it "the blob".
It's acellular - but polynucleated.
And, it's smart.
It does all this without a nervous system.

Don'tcha just love a good slime mold? Helps to remind me that all of the trees of the forest are also connected together by their root systems through fungus in the ground and all talk to each other.

 

[ReinyDays]

Don'tcha just love a good slime mold? Helps to remind me that all of the trees of the forest are also connected together by their root systems through fungus in the ground and all talk to each other.

Quite a bit of evidence that the "fresh mowed grass" smell is actually a danger signal for the other plants ... letting all the neighborhood grass plants know the genitalia-chopping equipment is loose again ... just because we can't hear them doesn't mean plants don't scream in pain ...

We need to be careful overlaying human emotions onto fungi ... fungi have their own emotional set and any similarities to human emotions is just luck, random chance ...

Did you get this from the Ignobel site? ... sounds like research that maybe shouldn't have been done in the first and Lord knows should never be repeated ... sounds like the Toxo talking if you want my opinion ...

 

[ReinyDays]

It's a slime mold. In science fiction movies they called it "the blob".

It's acellular - but polynucleated.

And, it's smart.

When food is placed at one end of a maze, p. polycephalum will retract from all corridors except the one with the food. When two food sources are present, it will retract from everything except the shortest path between the two food sources.

When multiple food sources are present, physarum polycephalum solves the "transportation problem" by building a Steiner tree.

P. Polycephalum also has memory. After conditioned learning it will anticipate results even when the conditioning stimulus is no longer presented.

It does all this without a nervous system.

View attachment 1077900

Physarum polycephalum - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Blob was an obligate carnivore ... smile molds are generally saprophytic ... I know, Steve McQueen makes me question my gender identity as well ... God he's sexy ...