This Brainless Blob Learns — and Teaches, Too

New research finds that slime molds, goopy and rather uncharismatic organisms that lack a nervous system, can adapt to a repulsive stimulus and then pass on that adaptation by fusing with one another. The research suggests that learning may predate the evolution of the nervous system, Toulouse University researchers David Vogel and Audrey Dussutour wrote Dec. 21 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Slime molds are truly bizarre.