Yes, slime mould, better known as Physarum Polycephalum. Slime mould is a single celled organism, which is known to be quite efficient in network building, but why is that useful for us?

One experiment was done where oats were placed to match Tokyo and 36 nearby towns and the slime mould created a network as expected. However the interesting thing is that the network that it created was almost identical to that which already existed in the train system in Japan "with comparable efficiency, fault tolerance, and cost". The system was a complex one that took humans a lot of planning and thought to design; over 100 years. However, the slime mould took just over a day.

For the second experiment, cold air was blown onto the slime mould at regular intervals. Since they slime mould prefers warm air, it would stop networking as quickly. They repeated this for some time at regular intervals, but they stopped at one point. The slime mould slowed down its networking nonetheless, in anticipation of the cold air. From this the researchers concluded that the slime mould was capable of learning, though lacking a central nervous system.

Another experiment took place where a small maze was filled with slime mould. They put oats at two points, and the slime mould created a connection between the food, retracting from inefficient areas and routes. Each time, it found the most efficient of the four possible routes. The conclusion drawn from the experiment was the slime mould had a basic, primitive form of intelligence.

Even though it lacks a brain, the slime mould has the capacity to form complex networks and work in the most efficient, effective way. Biologists, computer programmers and mathematics have been trying to replicate this unique talent which can be seen throughout nature, for example in our own blood vessel patterns or the nervous system. Who knows what we will be able to accomplish once we fully understand the slime mould?

Saniya Chughtai, Newstead Wood School