A SLIME MOLD WITH A MEMORY

A Slime Mold With a Memory

Slime molds have no brains, but as it turns out, they have ways of remembering where they've been.

The goopy puddles known as slime molds are part of a group of microbes called protists. These single-celled organisms don't have brains, yet researchers discovered they have memories.

Slime molds secrete a thick, translucent slime as they move. Then, they use the slime trail they've laid down to record where they've been -- which, in turn, helps them go around obstacles and find things. In studies, researchers hid a sugary meal behind a U-shaped barrier, and the slime mold found it by using its trail to figure out where it had already been, and thus where to look next 

Such a memory isn't the same as a human memory, of course. Slime molds can't store memories, for example. Still, the findings help us understand how early organisms figured out problems and puzzles. And the discovery marks the first demonstration of a spatial memory system in a brainless organism.

A Chinese Turtle that Pees Through its Mouth

A Chinese Turtle that Pees Through its Mouth

Urea, which comes from decomposing proteins, is a common component of fertilizer. Pelodiscus sinensis, a Chinese soft-shelled turtle, urinates through its mouth to pass urea

How cool would it be if you could pee through your mouth? Actually, it doesn't sound appealing at all. But scientists have discovered a Chinese soft-shelled turtle that can do just that. Its name is Pelodiscus sinensis, and it comes equipped with unusual gill-like projections on its mouth.

The turtles typically live in salty swamps and marshes. Strangely, when they're on dry land, they often stick their heads in puddles. In fact, researchers discovered these turtles can submerge their heads underwater for as long as 100 minutes. They also found the turtles can pee about 50 times more urea through their mouths than from their rears.

So why are they doing this? Like humans, turtles need to wash out the urea their bodies create. Urea is a result of proteins that decompose in our bodies. Humans create the urine to do this by drinking fresh water. But the soft-shelled turtles can't simply drink some water, because they live in a salty environment, andsaltwater's not good to drink. Scientists speculate that to solve this problem, the turtles get rid of their urea by sticking their heads in fresh water, like that found in puddles, and simply rinse the urea out through their mouths