Blob Transfers Knowledge Without Brain

The yellow, single-celled slime mold Physarum polycephalum, nicknamed "the blob," has almost 720 sexes and can heal itself within two minutes after being cut in half. Despite lacking a brain or central nervous system, it can learn the best route through a maze and overcome barriers, such as salt, to reach food. When scientists fuse a trained blob with an untrained one, the experienced organism transfers what it learned, allowing the other blob to cross the same barrier immediately.

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