Brainless Blob Stores Memories

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Also interesting was a piece on the BBC Nature website: Brainless Slime Mould has an External Memory (14). Here are some select quotes, which refer to a study in Australia led by Christopher Reid:
“Slime moulds use a form of spatial ‘memory’ to navigate, despite not having a brain”.
Reid: “The pulsating parts are also influenced by the throbbing of their neighbours within the cell, which means that they can communicate with each other, to pass information through the organism about what is happening in the environment outside”.
“They found that the slime mould did not revisit areas it had already investigated”.
Reid: “In essence, the slime mould is memorising where it has been – storing this memory in the external environment and recalling the information when it later touches the slime-coated area”.
“The findings are the first to identify ‘memory’ in an organism without a brain or central nervous system”.
Reid: “For a single-celled organism, it has continually surprised researchers with its abilities, such as solving mazes, anticipating periodic events, and even making irrational decisions like we do.” “It is truly a remarkable creature that is redefining our notions of ‘intelligence’ ”.