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MOLECULAR MEMORIES. “Habituation and recovery may not seem especially advanced. However, they require a form of basic learning coupled to a type of memory. Given this, the team reasoned that this physical memory could potentially be transmissible. When slime molds meet each other they can undergo cellular fusion, whereby the two formerly independent individuals join forces to form a larger single entity. If fused cells can share nuclei and cytoplasm, why not their memories too?” http://jeb.biologists.org/content/220/7/1166.1 View in LinkedIn

MITOCHONDRIAL CROSSROADS. "Mechanisms underlying maintenance and accumulation of damaged somatic stem cells should act in diametrically opposite directions in gametes, where they mediate selection of the fittest to effect reproduction. The differential reliance of somatic stem cells and gametes on mitochondrial respiration for ATP production may be at least one such mechanism." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193459091500209X View in LinkedIn

LESSER SOMATIC SELECTION. "Somatic stem cell maintenance mechanisms are likely geared to maximize the probability of reaching reproductive age. Selection, as observed in the germline, would in somatic stem cells lead to rapid attrition and therefore to insufficient tissue maintenance and replacement to be compatible with life up to reproductive age." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193459091500209X View in LinkedIn

THE HAND AT THE WHEEL. "Use of glycolysis for ATP production in somatic stem cells as opposed to mitochondrial respiration in the germline suggests that mitochondria play a critical role in stem cell maintenance and gamete selection." The mitochondrion was of bacterial origin. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193459091500209X View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this second weekend contemplating the marvelous slime mold. They are examples of how our simplistic thinking has led us to false conclusions. For a very long time, biology has failed to deliver a view of the world that is realistic. Infused with nonsense about human self-importance, we have been in a delusional bubble and dismissed great swaths of the living world as primitive and non-sensate. Very slowly, we are realizing the error of our ways, and the world becomes a richer place as a result. View in LinkedIn

PROGRAMMING SLIME MOLDS. “We show how to program living slime mold machines by configurations of repelling and attracting gradients and demonstrate the workability of the living machines on tasks of computational geometry, logic, and arithmetic.” http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/ARTL_a_00110 View in LinkedIn

DEDIFFERENTIATION. "During limb regeneration adult tissue is converted into a zone of undifferentiated progenitors called the blastema that reforms the diverse tissues of the limb. Previous experiments have led to wide acceptance that limb tissues dedifferentiate to form pluripotent cells." https://lnkd.in/gcYRVjY View in LinkedIn

SLIMY DEVICES. “In a series of simple experiments we demonstrate how to make computing, sensing, and actuating devices from the slime mold.” https://lnkd.in/g5z_FfP View in LinkedIn

FATE REVERSAL. "It has long been thought that once mammalian cells are committed to a specific lineage, they can no longer change their fate, and thus they become so-called terminally differentiated cells. But recent studies suggest that differentiated mammalian cells can be induced to assume new fates under appropriate conditions, a phenomenon termed dedifferentiation." https://lnkd.in/gxtx9hi View in LinkedIn

SLIME MOLD NEURAL SYSTEM. “Through a range of computer modeling techniques, we demonstrate how emergent behavior, and hence computational intelligence, may occur in cytoskeletal communications networks. Specifically, we model the topology of both the actin and tubulin cytoskeletal networks and discuss how computation may occur therein. Furthermore, we present bespoke cellular automata and particle swarm models for the computational process within the cytoskeleton and observe the incidence of emergent patterns in both.” https://lnkd.in/gDZPXsj View in LinkedIn