Just like humans, slime mould too can recognise nutritional value of foods
February 13th, 2010 - 5:35 pm ICT by ANILondon, Feb 13 (ANI): A new study says that just as humans recognize the nutritional value of foods, slime mould can also make the complex decision.
Slime mould is a broad term describing fungus-like organisms that use spores to reproduce, but despite it being just a giant super-cell it can trace the best foods, reports New Scientist.
Yellow slime mould is known to follow traces of sweetness to locate food.
Audrey Dussutour of the National Centre for Scientific Research in Toulouse, France, has found that it can also detect nutrients from afar and judge the most nutritious food before moving.
In the absence of an optimal food source, it will also stretch itself between two sources, precisely calculating how much of its mass to devote to each in order to meet its needs. (ANI)
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Tags: absence, audrey, food source, fungus, london feb, new scientist, nutrients, nutritional value of foods, nutritious food, organisms, slime, spores, sweetness, toulouse france, traces
