Editing Slime mold (section)

=== Computation ===

Slime molds share some similarities with neural systems in animals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Carr |first=William E. S. |chapter=Chemical Signaling Systems in Lower Organisms: A Prelude to the Evolution of Chemical Communication in the Nervous System |date=1989 |title=Evolution of the First Nervous Systems |pages=81–94 |editor-last=Anderson |editor-first=Peter A.V. |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-1-4899-0921-3_6 |isbn=978-1-4899-0921-3 }}</ref> The membranes of both slime molds and neural cells contain receptor sites, which alter electrical properties of the membrane when it is bound.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carr |first1=William E. S. |last2=Gleeson |first2=Richard A. |last3=Trapido-Rosenthal |first3=Henry G. |title=The role of perireceptor events in chemosensory processes |journal=Trends in Neurosciences |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=212–215 |date=June 1990 |pmid=1694326 |doi=10.1016/0166-2236(90)90162-4 |s2cid=46452914 }}</ref> Therefore, some studies on the early evolution of animal neural systems are inspired by slime molds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lindsey |first1=J. |last2=Lasker |first2=R. |title=Chemical Signals in the Sea: Marine Allelochemics and Evolution. |journal=Fishery Bulletin |date=1974 |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=51xy60-M3jUC&dq=Kittredge+et+al.+slime+mold&pg=PA1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lenhoff |first1=H M |last2=Heagy |first2=W |title=Aquatic invertebrates: model systems for study of receptor activation and evolution of receptor proteins |journal=Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=243–258 |date=April 1977 |pmid=17353 |doi=10.1146/annurev.pa.17.040177.001331 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Janssens |first1=P.M. |last2=Van Haastert |first2=P.J. |title=Molecular basis of transmembrane signal transduction in ''Dictyostelium discoideum'' |journal=Microbiological Reviews |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=396–418 |date=December 1987 |pmid=2893972 |pmc=373123 |doi=10.1128/mr.51.4.396-418.1987 }}</ref> When a slime mold mass or mound is physically separated, the cells find their way back to re-unite. Studies on ''[[Physarum polycephalum]]'' have even shown the organism to have an ability to learn and predict periodic unfavorable conditions in laboratory experiments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saigusa |first1=Tetsu |last2=Tero |first2=Atsushi |last3=Nakagaki |first3=Toshiyuki |last4=Kuramoto |first4=Yoshiki |title=Amoebae anticipate periodic events |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=018101 |date=January 2008 |pmid=18232821 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.018101 |hdl-access=free |bibcode=2008PhRvL.100a8101S |hdl=2115/33004 |s2cid=14710241 }}
* {{cite magazine |last=Barone |first=Jennifer |date=December 9, 2008 |title=#71: Slime Molds Show Surprising Degree of Intelligence |magazine=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]] |url=http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/071|archive-date=December 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210234929/http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/071}}</ref> [[John Tyler Bonner]], a professor of ecology known for his studies of slime molds, argues that they are "no more than a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath, yet they manage to have various behaviors that are equal to those of animals who possess muscles and nerves with ganglia – that is, simple brains."<ref>{{cite news |last1=MacPherson |first1=Kitta |date=January 21, 2010 |title=The 'sultan of slime': Biologist continues to be fascinated by organisms after nearly 70 years of study |url=https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/40/89S11/index.xml |publisher=Princeton University}}</ref>

The slime mold [[algorithm]] is a [[Heuristic (computer science)|meta-heuristic algorithm]], based on the behavior of aggregated slime molds as they stream in search of food. It is described as a simple, efficient, and flexible way of solving [[optimization problem]]s, such as finding the [[Shortest path problem|shortest path]] between [[Node (networking)|nodes]] in a network. However, it can become trapped in a [[local optimum]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zheng |first1=Rong |author2=Jia, Heming |author3=Aualigah, Laith |author4=Liu, Qingxin |author5=Wang, Shuang |title=Deep ensemble of slime mold algorithm and arithmetic optimization algorithm for global optimization |journal=Processes |volume=9 |issue=10 |year=2021 |page=1774 |doi=10.3390/pr9101774 |url=https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/10/1774/pdf |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Toshiyuki Nakagaki]] and colleagues studied slime molds and their abilities to solve mazes by placing nodes at two points separated by a maze of plastic film. The mold explored all possible paths and solved it for the shortest path.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/35035159|journal=Nature|title=Maze-solving by an amoeboid organism|date=September 28, 2000|first1=Toshiyuki|last1=Nakagaki|first2=Hiroyasu|last2=Yamada|first3=Agotha|last3=Toth|volume=407 |issue=6803 |page=470 |doi=10.1038/35035159 |pmid=11028990 }}</ref>