Slime Mold Stores “Memories” Without Even Having A Brain
Year: 2021
Unlike fungi, slime molds are soil-dwelling globby amoebas. As weird as it sounds, even though they do not have a brain or nervous system, they can navigate a maze or recall the location of food. In a study published in February 2021, researchers found that they actually can record important details of their surroundings. They do this by changing the diameter of outstretched tubular tendrils. Those transport fluid and nutrients throughout the mold’s body. When studying Physarum polycephalum slime mold, scientists observed how the tubes become thicker when they encounter food and thinner when they found none. A chemical triggered these changes, or was it the slime mold’s biological memory? In one of the most surprising scientific findings, scientists realized these memories were present.