Evolution: Slime molds revisited (Introduction)

by David Turell @, Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 20:58 (2921 days ago) @ David Turell

These are weird arrangements of goo in one sack membrane with multiple nuclei acting through chemical reactions. They can make stalks and spores and solve mazes to find food. They are unicellular but act like multicellular to some degree: - http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/slime-molds-are-smarter-than-you-think... - "Even more amazing, when they sexually reproduce they break into individual amoeba-like cells and organize themselves into beautiful stalks and knobby spore-containing tops; the spores live but stalk cells altruistically sacrifice themselves." - Comment: The videos are truly amazing. Brief, please watch. Is this the beginning of multicellularity? Probably.


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