I’m very tired about talking about Donald Trump and so are you, so let’s instead talk about a brainless creature previously thought devoid of thought that overcame its lack of neurons or nervous systems in order to triumphantly learn something new. No, I said I’m not talking about Donald Trump anymore. Let’s give a shoutout to our new best friends the slime molds.
“We usually think of learning as a trait that is limited to organisms with brains and nervous systems,” the study authors wrote. “Indeed, learning is often equated with neuronal changes such as synaptic plasticity, implicitly precluding its existence in non-neural organisms.” [...]
“What’s interesting about slime molds is they appear to be simple, because there is only one cell, but they are capable of amazing stuff, things that we thought were only possible with nervous systems or brains,” said lead author Romain Boisseau, a master's student studying evolutionary biology at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. “These guys are very cool.”
Cunning as the slime mold may seem, can it actually learn? To find out, scientists at Toulouse University in France tested slime molds’ behavior in the lab, focusing on a very basic form of learning: habituation, when a living thing’s behavioral response decreases to a repeated stimulus — whether good or bad — over time.
The researchers tested whether or not slime molds could overcome their aversion to potentially dangerous chemicals to get to food on the other side; it turns out they can indeed be “taught” such behaviors, and remember them.
I must admit to being a bit skeptical of this particular experiment, but I don’t care. Let’s instead bask in the knowledge that you don’t need a functioning brain at all in order to learn from past experience. So if Republicans are mulling over potential candidates for Donald Trump’s vice presidential slot tonight, may I suggest the humble slime mold? It’s already proven itself more clever than Bill Kristol.
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2011—HR 3 is GOP's ultimate betrayal of 'Tea Party values'
In order to make their "no taxpayer funding for abortion" scheme work, Republicans use H.R. 3 to disallow tax deductions for your health care expenses if your private insurance plan covers abortion. Not if you actually get an abortion. And not if a member of your family does. All it takes for you to see your taxes hiked is if the private insurance plan you selected and paid forwith your own money permits coverage of abortion at all. For anyone. Even if you never get one and never plan to. If you bought a plan that agrees to cover abortion if someone else totally unrelated to you needs one, then you lose eligibility for any tax deductions for the cost of your insurance, and your tax bill shoots up. Republicans take your cash, because you agreed to buy a plan that might someday pay for someone else's abortion. |
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin wraps up Indiana. It’s Trump! Will the Zodiac Cruz kill off the conservative movement? And just how are you likely to die? RNC punts on rules changes. The Endorsement Game, NY edition. And, mistakes were made. But hold the summary executions, please.
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