I have become a fan of slime
molds. After all, it appears that they operate
just like our own internet with each cell providing processing capability and
one presumes some form of memory. They
are never static either. They can form
up into an imitation of a flower and build networks around difficult obstacles
and likely all sorts of other tricks we have not yet noticed.
Thus while we can readily posit
just such structures in the brain, here we see them working toward a common
goal that is a close emulation of brain function or at least some aspects of
it.
It forever amazes me to see
something invented or discovered and to then find a working analog out in
nature.
By Shingo Ito | AFP – 16 hours ago
A brainless, primeval organism able to navigate a maze might help
Japanese scientists devise the ideal transport network design. Not bad for a
mono-cellular being that lives on rotting leaves.
Amoeboid yellow slime mold has been on Earth for thousands of years,
living a distinctly un-hi-tech life, but, say scientists, it could provide the
key to designing bio-computers capable of solving complex problems.
Toshiyuki Nakagaki, a professor at Future University Hakodate says the
organism, which he cultivates in petri dishes, "organises" its cells
to create the most direct root through a maze to a source of food.
He says the cells appear to have a kind of information-processing
ability that allows them to "optimise" the route along which the mold
grows to reach food while avoiding stresses -- like light -- that may damage
them.
"Humans are not the only living things with information-processing
abilities," said Nakagaki in his laboratory in Hakodate
on Japan 's northernmost island of Hokkaido
"Simple creatures can solve certain kinds of difficult
puzzles," Nakagaki said. "If you want to spotlight the essence of
life or intelligence, it's easier to use these simple creatures."
And it doesn't get much simpler than slime mold, an organism that
inhabits decaying leaves and logs and eats bacteria.
Physarum polycephalum, or grape-cluster slime, grows large enough to be
seen without a microscope and has the appearance of mayonnaise.
Nakagaki's work with this slime has been recognised with "Ig
Nobel" awards in 2008 and 2010.
An irreverent take on the Nobel prizes, Ig Nobel prizes are given to
scientists who can "first make people laugh, and then make them
think."
And, say his contemporaries, slime may sound like an odd place to go
looking for the key to intelligence, but it is exactly the right place to
start.
Atsushi Tero at Kyushu University in western Japan, said slime mold
studies are not a "funny but quite orthodox approach" to figuring out
the mechanism of human intelligence.
He says slime molds can create much more effective networks than even
the most advanced technology that currently exists.
"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," Tero explained.
"But slime molds, without calculating all the possible options,
can flow over areas in an impromptu manner and gradually find the best routes.
"Slime molds that have survived for hundreds of millions of years
can flexibly adjust themselves to a change of the environment," he said.
"They can even create networks that are resistant to unexpected
stimulus."
Research has shown slime molds become inactive when subjected to stress
such as temperature or humidity changes. They even appear to
"remember" the stresses and protectively become inactive when they
might expect to experience them.
Tero and his research team have successfully had slime molds form the
pattern of a railway system quite similar to the railroad networks of the Kanto
region centering Tokyo
He hopes these slime mold networks will be used in future designs of
new transport systems or electric transmission lines that need to incorporate
detours to get around power outages.
Masashi Aono, a researcher at Riken, a natural science research
institute based in Saitama, says his project aims to examine the mechanism of
the human brain and eventually duplicate it with slime molds.
"I'm convinced that studying the information-processing
capabilities of lower organisms may lead to an understanding of the human brain
system," Aono said. "That's my motivation and ambition as a
researcher."
Aono says that among applications of so-called "slime mold
neuro-computing" is the creation of new algorithm or software for computers
modelled after the methods slime molds use when they form networks.
"Ultimately, I'm interested in creating a bio-computer by using
actual slime molds, whose information-processing system will be quite close to
that of the human brain," Aono said.
"Slime molds do not have a central nervous system, but they can
act as if they have intelligence by using the dynamism of their fluxion, which
is quite amazing," Aono said. "To me, slime molds are the window on a
small universe."
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