Japanese scientists are studying yellow slime to better understand the mechanism of human intelligence (dish, computers)

[Woof]

I don't care about what they're actually doing, this thread is worth the price of admission for that one sentence. We humans are indeed comparable to yellow slime.

But here's a snippet of the article:

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....... full article at Japan scientists hope slime holds intelligence key - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/japan-scientists-hope-slime-holds-intelligence-key-033359816.html - broken link)

[DewDropInn]

Thanks for posting that. I'm going to be looking at slime with a sense of new-found respect.