April 22 (UPI) -- The slime mold Physarum polycephalum doesn't have a nervous system, yet the single-celled organism is capable of learning and communicating.
Physarum polycephalum can learn to no longer fear a harmless substance that it was previous averse to. The mold can also share knowledge of the substance's harmlessness with its fellow molds.According to a new study, published this week in the journal Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society B, the mold learns via fusion.