MOEBAS ANTICIPATE CLIMATE CHANGE   A new experiment shows that
amoebas will slow their motion in synch with periodic adverse
changes in their environment, and will, as if in anticipation, even
slow down when the adverse condition is not delivered. A team of
scientists from Hokkaido University and the ATR Wave Engineering
Laboratories in Japan cultured the single-celled slime mold Physarum
polycephalum (a member of the amoeba clan) in a bed of oat flakes on
agar. Every ten minutes the air was made slightly cooler and drier,
which had the effect of slowing the movement of the amoebas down a
narrow lane. Then more favorable air would be restored and the
motion continued as before. After several cycles, the amoebas
slowed even when the adverse conditions did not materialize. Later
still, when the organisms have been tricked into anticipating
impending climate change several times, they refrain from slowing
without an actual change in conditions. One of the researchers,
Toshiyuki Nakagaki from Hokkaido (nakagaki@es.hokudai.ac.jp),
cautions that amoebas do not have a brain and that this is not
example of classic *Pavlovian* conditioned response behavior.
Nevertheless, it might represent more evidence for a primitive
sensitivity or *intelligence* based on the dynamic behavior of the
tubular structures deployed by the amoeba. (Saigusa et al.,
Physical Review Letters, 11 January 2008; journalists can obtain the
article from www.aip.org/physnews/select)