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Scientists hope slime holdscleverness key
« on: 03 January 2012, 02:28:14 AM »
Hakodate - 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 mould has
been on Earth for thousands of years,
living a distinctly un-high- 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 mould grows to reach
food while avoiding stresses - like light
- that may damage them.
"Humans are not the only living things
with information-processing abilities,"
said Nakagaki in his laboratory in
Hakodate on Japan's northernmost
island of Hokkaido.
"Simple creatures can solve certain
kinds of difficult puzzles," Nakagaki
told AFP. "If you want to spotlight the
essence of life or intelligence, it's easier
to use these simple creatures."
And it doesn't get much more simple
than slime mould, an organism that
inhabits decaying leaves and logs and
munches on bacteria.
Physarum polycephalum, or grape-
cluster slime, grows large enough to
be seen without a microscope and has
the appearance of mayonnaise.
Nakagaki's work with this slime was
recognised by the award of "Ig Nobel"
prizes in 2008 and 2010.
The spoof Nobel prizes are given to
scientists who can "first make people
laugh, and then make them think".
And, say his contemporaries, slime
may sound like an odd place to go
looking for the key to intelligence, but
it is exactly the right place to start.
Atsushi Tero at Kyushu University in
western Japan, said slime mould
studies are not a "funny but quite
orthodox approach" to figuring out
the mechanism of human intelligence.
He says slime moulds can create much
more effective networks than even the
most advanced technology that man
has.
"Computers are not so good at
analysing the best routes that connect
many base points because the volume
of calculations becomes too large for
them," Tero explained.
"But slime moulds, without calculating
all the possible options, can flow over
areas in an impromptu manner and
gradually find the best routes.
"Slime moulds that have survived for
hundreds of millions of years can
flexibly adjust themselves to a change
of the environment, " he said. "They
can even create networks that are
resistant to unexpected stimulus."
Ambition
Research has shown slime moulds
become inactive when subjected to
stress such as temperature or
humidity changes. They even appear
to "remember " the stresses and
protectively become inactive when they
might expect to experience them.
Tero and his research team have
successfully had slime moulds form
the pattern of a railway system quite
similar to the railroad networks of the
Kanto region centering Tokyo - which
were designed by hard-thinking
people.
He hopes these slime mould networks
will be used in future designs of new
transport systems or electric
transmission lines that need to
incorporate detours to get around
power outages.
Masashi Aono, a researcher at Riken, a
natural science research institute
based in Saitama, says his project aims
to examine the mechanism of the
human brain and eventually duplicate
that brain with slime moulds.
"I'm convinced that studying the
information-processing capabilities of
lower organisms may lead to an
understanding of the human brain
system," Aono said. "That's my
motivation and ambition as a
researcher."
Aono says that among applications of
so-called "slime mould neuro-
computing" is the creation of new
algorithm or software for computers
modelled after the methods slime
moulds use when they form networks.
"Ultimately, I'm interested in creating a
bio-computer by using actual slime
moulds, whose information-
processing system will be quite close
to that of the human brain," Aono
said.
"Slime moulds do not have a central
nervous system, but they can act as if
they have intelligence by using the
dynamism of their fluxion, which is
quite amazing," Aono said.
"To me, slime moulds are the window
on a small universe."
AFP

m.news24.com/news24/SciTech/News/Scientists-hope-slime-holds-cleverness-key-20120101

 

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