Recently, a special creature was exhibited in a zoo in France. It looks like a fungus and behaves like an animal. No mouth, no eyes, but looking for food, no brain, but it is not difficult to "learn" to walk the maze. What is even more amazing is that even if it is cut in half, it can "self-heal" in a short time, which is simply the visual sense of the "venom" of the display version.
This magical creature is actually a slime mold.
Myxomycetes: Good at solving maze problems.
In fact, this is not the first time that the bacteria have caught fire. Myxomycetes have caught fire on the internet because of their unique ability to solve mazes. Put myxomycetes at the entrance of the maze and a food at the exit, and soon you will find that myxomycetes seem to "find" the exit easily. This easy-to-operate and easy-to-observe experiment greatly aroused people's curiosity. Myxomycetes are used to solve all kinds of mazes, which are rarely disappointing.
This ability has long been noticed by scientists. Japanese scientists published a study in which Myxomycetes were used to draw a road map of the Tokyo Railway System in a Petri dish. Scientists reduced the part of Tokyo to a Petri dish in equal proportion, and then put the food in the Petri dish at 36 positions corresponding to important subway stations near Tokyo. Using the characteristics of Myxomycetes to avoid light, the coastline and terrain are simulated by light spots.
In this way, Myxomycetes can combine different routes to connect food. You know, plans to connect these 36 points can be said to be endless. After many years and many people's polishing, Tokyo Railway Line has become the most mature and efficient railway line in the world, but it won't be long before Myxomycetes will walk out of the feeding line.
Some of them have a high degree of fit with the most mature subway lines in the world, which were designed by human beings with great manpower and wisdom. Scientists seem to enjoy it and want to know where the limit of Myxomycetes is. Some scientists even use the ability of Myxomycetes to find food to fit the global Silk Road route.