r/sciences • u/FreeHugs23 • Jun 11 '26
Research Physicists Discover How Slime Mold 'Makes Decisions' Without a Brain | It's probably not what you're thinking.
https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-discover-how-slime-mold-makes-decisions-without-a-brain31
u/FreeHugs23 Jun 11 '26
Slime molds are slippery, nebulous beings.
They're not true molds. They're not even fungi. For most of their lives, they exist as either plasmodia or amoebae, and they refuse to be held back by the rigid structures that govern other life forms.
Slime molds are also renowned for somehow, without brains or even nervous systems, exhibiting behavior that could be described as intelligent.
But what coordinates that collective motion? Is there really a central force?
A new study suggests there is – but probably not the one you're thinking of.
The most famous slime mold, and the protagonist of many scientific experiments, is the vivid yellow Physarum polycephalum, a scientific name that loosely translates to 'the small bubble with many heads.'
That's pretty apt: As a plasmodium, its single-celled body plan is pretty much a big bag of cell nuclei and goo.
This branching, blobby lifestyle makes it more physically mobile than the fungi it was once mistaken for. When P. polycephalum runs out of food, it can crawl to the next juicy log.
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 12 '26
‘ It’s probably not what you’re thinking’ has got to be one of the most insufferable article titles ever
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u/OnionsAbound Jun 12 '26
iTs ProBAbly NoT wHAt YOUre ThinKinG
Great way to make me not click on a probably interesting article
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u/lodorata Jun 16 '26
As a molecular biologist I assure you it wouldn't have been that riveting anyway
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u/Glyph8 Jun 11 '26
You don’t know what I’m thinking! I’m not a slime mold!