A DECADE ago, researchers showed that slime moulds could solve a maze. Much speculation followed that these single-celled organisms were displaying a rudimentary form of intelligence – one that might ultimately underpin our own.
Now, similar claims are being made for a blob of floating oil (see “What a maze-solving oil drop can tell us about intelligence”). It is a stretch to call the blob smart – it just gives the appearance of intelligence by responding to ordered information in its environment. Even so, some researchers see “deep connections” between blob intelligence and our own.
Intelligence is hard to define, and…
