'Intelligent' slime able to navigate its way out of maze

A Japanese scientist is exploring the power of slime mould in an attempt to uncover the key to intelligence. Toshiyuki Nakagaki, a professor at Future University Hakodate, northern Japan, cultivates the slime in petri dishes and has discovered how the brainless organism is capable of finding its way out of a maze. The brainless organism is able to “organise” its cells to create the most direct route through a maze in order to reach a source of food, according to his studies.

The findings highlight how slime mould possesses information processing abilities shared by humans which are more sophisticated than the most advanced computers, according to Professor Nakagaki. "Humans are not the only living things with information-processing abilities," he said. "Simple creatures can solve certain kinds of difficult puzzles. If you want to spotlight the essence of life or intelligence, it's easier to use these simple creatures." Slime mould, a monocellular being that lives on rotting leaves and does not possess a brain, may not be the obvious subject of scientific research in relation to intelligence.



However, Professor Nakagaki is one of a growing number of scientists examining the information-professing capabilities of slime as a potential key to designing biocomputers of the future capable of solving complex problems. Previous research has shown how slime moulds become inactive when “stressed” due to changes in temperature or humidity and are subsequently able to “remember” and anticipate such situations reoccurring. In another experiment, slime mould successfully formed the pattern of a railway system similar to the complex human-designed railroad networks of the Kanto region of Japan.

Atsushi Tero, from Kyushu University, southern Japan, who conducted the research, believes that the intelligence skills possessed by slime mould networks could potentially be used in the future design of transport systems or electric transmission lines. "Computers are not so good at analysing the best routes that connect many base points because the volume of calculations becomes too large for them," he said. "But slime moulds, without calculating all the possible options, can flow over areas in an impromptu manner and gradually find the best routes.”

*waves to Ratz*