Month: September 2022

CONSEQUENCES. “As a consequence of these different cellular scaling rules, a 10-fold increase in the number of neurons in a rodent brain results in a 35-fold larger brain; in contrast, a similar 10-fold increase in the number of neurons in a primate brain results in an increase in brain size of only 11-fold.” https://lnkd.in/d2aUKat View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends untangling the Tomfoolery of using brain size as a proxy for intelligence. Beyond the howling methodological and assumptive errors, the elephant in the room is intelligence in creatures with no brain cells at all such as slime molds and plants. How we have got this so wrong seems closely related to 2,000 years of seeing nature as subordinate to man and man at the center of the universe favored by god. View in LinkedIn

MOLDY BINARY OPERATIONS. “The team has so far demonstrated that a slime mold network can carry out XOR or NOR Boolean operations. Chaining together arrays of such logic gates might allow a slime mold computer to carry out binary operations for computation.” https://lnkd.in/d7pZv9w View in LinkedIn

LIVING DEVICES. "Slime mold microfluidic logical gates. We explored the topologies of Physarum protoplasmic networks and demonstrated that basic logical gates can be implemented in living slime P. polycephalum. The Physarum fluidic gates are synchronized by propagating calcium waves. Slime mold P. polycephalum is a living microfluidic device. Even the diameter of Physarum protoplasmic tubes, approx. 100 μm, matches the width of most common man-made microfluidic devices.” https://lnkd.in/dweYfzS View in LinkedIn

ROUTING BY SLIME MOLDS. “In our protocol, we identify one key adaptation parameter to adjust the tradeoff between efficiency and robustness of network routes. Through extensive realistic network simulations and ideal closed form or numerical computations, we validate the effectiveness of both protocols, as well as the efficiency and robustness of the resulting network connectivity.” https://lnkd.in/d5Gtvbw View in LinkedIn

BRAINLESS MEMORY. "The findings are the first to identify 'memory' in an organism without a brain or central nervous system." https://lnkd.in/dTFCqQ5 View in LinkedIn

SLIME MOULD COMMUNICATION. "A crucial part of researching how D. discoideum is able to form multicellular bodies from its unicellular components is understanding how those single cells communicate with each other in these aggregation and differentiation processes." https://lnkd.in/dzE-VSU View in LinkedIn

SLIME MOULD DUET. "Slime mould and researcher set to play piano duet. When the piano keys are played, the cultured slime mould responds by changing its shape, and this movement creates electrical energy. By capturing the slime mould’s electrical energy and transforming it into sound, this new technology allows the slime mould to provide an auditory response to Miranda’s original musical phrase." https://lnkd.in/d98X_Kx View in LinkedIn