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Researchers find a single-celled slime mold with no nervous system that remembers food locations
phys.org ^ | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 | by Max Planck Society

Posted on 02/23/2021 4:47:23 PM PST by BenLurkin

The ability to store and recover information gives an organism a clear advantage when searching for food or avoiding harmful environments, and has been traditionally linked to organisms that have a nervous system. A new study authored by Mirna Kramar (MPIDS) and Prof. Karen Alim (TUM and MPIDS) challenges this view by uncovering surprising abilities of a highly dynamic, single-celled organism to store and retrieve information about its environment.

Physarum polycephalum has been puzzling researchers for many decades. Existing at the crossroads between the kingdoms of animals, plants and fungi, this unique organism provides insight into the early evolutionary history of eukaryotes. Its body is a giant single cell made up of interconnected tubes that form intricate networks. This single amoeba-like cell may stretch several centimeters or even meters, featuring as the largest cell on earth in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The striking abilities of the slime mold to solve complex problems such as finding the shortest path through a maze earned it the attribute "intelligent," intrigued the research community and kindled questions about decision making on the most basic levels of life. The decision-making ability of Physarum is especially fascinating given that its tubular network constantly undergoes fast reorganization—growing and disintegrating its tubes—while completely lacking an organizing center. The researchers discovered that the organism weaves memories of food encounters directly into the architecture of the network-like body and uses the stored information when making future decisions.

To find out what is going on, the researchers combine microscopic observations of the adaption of the tubular network with theoretical modeling. An encounter with food triggers the release of a chemical that travels from the location where food was found throughout the organism and softens the tubes in the network, making the whole organism reorient its migration towards the food.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: biology; cell; eukaryotes; fungi; giantcell; jerrynadler; physarum; slimemold
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To: TexasGator

Please see your optometrist.


21 posted on 02/23/2021 5:34:24 PM PST by Fungi
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To: BenLurkin

A democrat?


22 posted on 02/23/2021 5:36:16 PM PST by redfreedom (You can vote your way into socialism, but you may have to shoot your way out.)
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To: caww
The Banana Slug, a bright yellow, slimy, shell-less mollusk commonly found on the redwood forest floor, was the unofficial mascot for UC Santa Cruz coed teams since the university's early years. The students' embrace of such a lowly creature was their response to the fierce athletic competition fostered at most American universities.

UC Santa Cruz has always offered a wide-ranging physical education and recreation program designed to appeal to the greatest number of students, but it has based its approach on some uncommon ideas: that athletics are for all students, not just team members of major sports; that the most important goal of a collegiate physical education department should be to introduce as many students as possible to lifelong physical activities; and that the joy of participating is more important than winning.

23 posted on 02/23/2021 5:40:48 PM PST by spokeshave (White Confederate statue kills black man......Another month of protests.... (HT to seawolf101))
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To: spokeshave

how wonderful.

That is how we introduced sports in homeschool


24 posted on 02/23/2021 5:43:15 PM PST by Chickensoup (Voter ID for 2020!! Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: Fungi

Phys.org is often not that good.


25 posted on 02/23/2021 5:46:06 PM PST by ifinnegan ( Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: RoosterRedux

We can all think of so many candidates for this.


26 posted on 02/23/2021 5:47:11 PM PST by livius
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To: BenLurkin

Not to go off on a tangent, but this is an example of why i believe in intelligent design (God) and not evolution. Are we believe an organism like this just spontaneously sprung from the ooze?


27 posted on 02/23/2021 5:51:31 PM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: spokeshave

.....”the joy of participating is more important than winning”.....

I find that difficult to believe....reality tells me that loosing is not fun at all no matter how much I may have ‘participated’. There’s always greater joy in winning!


28 posted on 02/23/2021 5:52:36 PM PST by caww
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To: BenLurkin; Gamecock; SaveFerris; PROCON; mylife

29 posted on 02/23/2021 5:53:14 PM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: BenLurkin

“...with no nervous system that remembers food locations”

It’s doing better than my cat.


30 posted on 02/23/2021 5:56:34 PM PST by PLMerite
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To: ifinnegan

Correct. They simply post articles from original sources. Others include Science Daily, Eurekalert and others. They are simply an aggregator, so they have their place. Can’t visit every site regarding your interests, there are too many and most are worthless. A search engine has too many hits, most tangentially related.


31 posted on 02/23/2021 5:59:10 PM PST by Fungi
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To: caww

Yeah, yet what if the participants are doing line dancing or jazz dancing or stretching to get limber or imagining to be trees and reaching and swaying. Physical fitness does not have to be a game of teams and scores.


32 posted on 02/23/2021 5:59:29 PM PST by Trumpet 1 (US Constitution is my guide.)
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To: bigdaddy45
No tangent at all. Everything in nature is incredibly complex. From a single cell to a living organism is a leap of faith for the evolutionist. They have their “god,” it's called chance. How did the first organism, the first cell evolve? Unanswerable, and unprovable. Pure chance is the mother of all....
33 posted on 02/23/2021 6:05:48 PM PST by Fungi
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To: Trumpet 1
That still generally requires a personal goal one wants to achieve. "Winning".
34 posted on 02/23/2021 6:10:23 PM PST by caww
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To: PLMerite

Well kitty only needs to know your location.


35 posted on 02/23/2021 6:10:50 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

She usually has my 20 down to the millimeter.


36 posted on 02/23/2021 6:16:49 PM PST by PLMerite
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To: BenLurkin

Someday we will have Massively Parallel Slime Mold computers that verify the blockchain.


37 posted on 02/23/2021 6:19:13 PM PST by algore
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To: BenLurkin

Like Pelosi to an ice cream bar.


38 posted on 02/23/2021 6:30:01 PM PST by chickenlips (Neuter your politicians)
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To: BenLurkin

They should name it Maxine Waters, but that would be insulting the slime 😃.


39 posted on 02/23/2021 6:37:22 PM PST by Deplorable American1776 (Rest In Peace, Rush H. Limbaugh III. You are missed already...)
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To: BenLurkin

How long does it take to solve a Rubik’s cube?


40 posted on 02/23/2021 7:26:25 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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