Biohistory Jyournal, Summer, 2002

Research: Index > Does a slime fungus have intelligence?

The structure and function of the brain Does a slime fungus have intelligence?

Tetsuo Ueda, Professor Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University

The slime fungus is a peculiar organism that appears on dead trees and fallen leaves after the start of the rainy season in Japan. It combines different characteristics of animals, plants, fungi, protists, and different creatures from the animal kingdom. While they are single-celled organisms, the largest of the fungi can grow to several meters. They can solve the problems of mazes in the same way that human beings instinctively understand the answers to mathematical problems. This creates the question: Do human intelligence and slime fungus “intelligence” have anything in common?

The plasmodium of a slime fungus grown into a cancellous shape. (Photograph: Tetsuo Ueda)

The Purkinje cell in the human cerebellum Photographs: Katsuyoshi Ishii, Tsutomu Hashikawa; RIKEN Brain Science Institute

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