It is a creeping and slimy creature that has been nicknamed "Blob", Its true name is " Physarum polycephalum", This unclassifiable being, takes the form of a yellow foam, surprising and slimy,t is not an animal, nor a plant, nor a mushroom.
This mold lives in a cool and wet area, which fascinates scientists and for good reason, blob defies the laws of biology.
It is composed of only one cell, feeds on fungi, but is not harmful or dangerous.
he usually lives in the undergrowth where he feeds on mushrooms, the blob intrigues scientists. Its biological specificities are unique. First, it is composed of only one cell. The blob is also almost immortal. It does not fear fire or water, can be cut into pieces and can regenerate itself. Blob also has characteristics of plants, animals and fungi.
The abilities of this body without brain wonder. He is for example able to find the exit of labyrinths in which scientists plunge him. Or he succeeds in simulating networks as powerful as those of humans.
A smart being, but without a brain
Despite its lack of brains, the blob is smart. He is able to learn and memorize information, especially regarding food. This spatial memory allows it not to go twice to the same place. And to avoid mistakes, he can learn from his peers, by merging.
Thanks to various experiments, CNRS researchers have found that by installing blobs side by side, one experienced, the other not, the new individual had the same characteristics as the one who had experience. And this learning worked with as many fused blobs as needed. Once separated, they find their original memory.
On the other hand, a blob cut into pieces becomes as many individual and completely identical blobs, but these can collaborate to merge again in order to become again a more important specimen, able to find the exit of a labyrinth by borrowing the path the shorter.
Indestructible?
Intelligent, the strange beast also seems particularly tough, almost immortal. And for good reason, a blob of 1.3 square kilometers was observed in the Appalachians, in the United States. And if he resists being cut, he is also incredibly resistant. Audrey Dussutour, specialist of the polycephalum physarum and author of Everything you have always wanted to know about the blob without ever daring to ask, has been working with the same strain for eight years, while she holds it from an American laboratory that had been for sixty years.
blob has 720 genetic compositions defining sex -two for us. The blobs that meet have 719 chances on 720 to reproduce. At this rate, the mysterious "thing" that scientists have not yet been able to precisely define, is likely to last longer on the planet than the human being.
More harmless, our blob feeds on bacteria found under tree stumps or in peat bogs. But he does not really care about fire, submersion or stabbing. In 1973, in Texas, a woman, frightened by the spongy mass that appeared in her garden, called the authorities. Neither cutting, nor poisoning, nor pressurized water prevented the thing from growing. Until his sudden disappearance.
Slime Mold: A Brainless Blob that Seems Smart
source:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161221090246.htm
http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/2861.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/31/archives/texas-scientists-think-backyard-blob-is-dead.html
https://www.livescience.com/57360-brainless-slime-mold-learns-and-teaches.html
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