Name: What humans can learn from semi-intelligent slime
Uploaded: 2014-07-17T15:29:46Z
Duration: 11 min 58 s
Description: Inspired by biological design and self-organizing systems, artist Heather Barnett co-creates with physarum polycephalum, a eukaryotic microorganism that lives in cool, moist areas. What can people learn from the semi-intelligent slime mold? Watch this talk to find out.

Heather Barnett: What humans can learn from semi-intelligent slime

What humans can learn from semi-intelligent slime

Inspired by biological design and self-organizing systems, artist Heather Barnett co-creates with physarum polycephalum, a eukaryotic microorganism that lives in cool, moist areas. What can people learn from the semi-intelligent slime mold? Watch this talk to find out.

Physarum polycephalum, a single-celled slime mold, can solve complex problems without a brain. In one experiment, it recreated the Tokyo rail network in just over a day, a feat that took humans a century. Its ability to learn, remember, and build efficient systems challenges assumptions about intelligence. Artists and scientists now collaborate with this organism to rethink how communities connect and adapt.