Organism with 720 sexes debuts at Paris zoo

[Morphine Prince 109,667]

(Reuters) - A Paris zoo showcased a mysterious new organism on Wednesday, dubbed the "blob", a yellowish unicellular small living being which looks like a fungus but acts like an animal.

This newest exhibit of the Paris Zoological Park, which goes on display to the public on Saturday, has no mouth, no stomach, no eyes, yet it can detect food and digest it.

The blob also has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs or wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut in half.

"It surprises us because it has no brain but is able to learn (...) and if you merge two blobs, the one that has learned will transmit its knowledge to the other," David added.

"We know for sure it is not a plant but we don't really if it's an animal or a fungus," said David.

"It behaves very surprisingly for something that looks like a mushroom (...) it has the behavior of an animal, it is able to learn."

[Ariana Grindr 3,173]

Wow wtf 

[Edonis 28,974]

Watch out sis, this may get some GGD members in their feelings if you show that gender and sex is more than a dichotomy, even in nature 

[Gov Hooka 8,008]

inb4

bUt ThEReS OnLy TwO GeNDeRs 

[ice bear 1]

that sounds like massive news 

[Morphine Prince 109,667]

Just now, Edonis said:

Watch out sis, this may get some GGD members in their feelings if you show that gender and sex is more than a dichotomy, even in nature 

I didn’t know this but you might be interested: 

The unicellular being is believed to be around a billion years old, but it first came to public’s attention in May 1973, after a Texas woman discovered a rapidly-expanding yellow blob growing in her backyard. With its otherworldly, extraterrestrial appearance, the blob became a brief media sensation, even picking up a mention in the New York Times.

The Texas blob died as quickly as it had appeared. The world all but forgot about the peculiar slime until new research published in 2016 discovered it had a form of intelligence.

Audrey Dussutour, a biologist at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, managed to teach it to ignore noxious substances, according to a paper she co-authored in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society Part B. A year later, it was able to remember that behavior, according to her research.

It is also capable of solving problems, such as finding the shortest way to exit a labyrinth and anticipating changes in its environment, according to scientific researchers at the Zoological Park.

[Economy 52,854]

Uhhhhhhh. What are they defining as sex then????? What characteristic?

 

and this blob is really strange

 

who needs to find Alien life when u got a mysterious yellow blob at home

 

[Brie Candy 18,650]

Sam Smith is shook

[PunkTheFunk 125,703]

Me: What are your preferred pronouns?

The Blob:

[Edonis 28,974]

4 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

I didn’t know this but you might be interested: 

The unicellular being is believed to be around a billion years old, but it first came to public’s attention in May 1973, after a Texas woman discovered a rapidly-expanding yellow blob growing in her backyard. With its otherworldly, extraterrestrial appearance, the blob became a brief media sensation, even picking up a mention in the New York Times.

The Texas blob died as quickly as it had appeared. The world all but forgot about the peculiar slime until new research published in 2016 discovered it had a form of intelligence.

Audrey Dussutour, a biologist at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, managed to teach it to ignore noxious substances, according to a paper she co-authored in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society Part B. A year later, it was able to remember that behavior, according to her research.

It is also capable of solving problems, such as finding the shortest way to exit a labyrinth and anticipating changes in its environment, according to scientific researchers at the Zoological Park.

Slime molds are sooooo wild From therapeutic capabilities to being a cesspool of toxins and drug resistance genes, this shouldn't come to a surprise but it does! I really need to do more reading on these guys lol I feel like the fountain of youth or something could be found in slime molds

[LibraOctober98 3,505]

Ummm. Like I respect the blob and all but... The labels and identities are getting too much nowadays. 720 sexes??? We're all so worried about political correctness nowadays. Like, blob, you're either a man or woman. 

[Conservative Mom 655]

orgasm?

oh organism

[Regina George 59,387]

Saying something has 700+ sexes without elaborating is kinds weird. What are those sexes and how did they manage to discover this?  

[Economy 52,854]

1 minute ago, ReginaGeorge said:

Saying something has 700+ sexes without elaborating is kinds weird. What are those sexes and how did they manage to discover this?  

This! This is what i was asking in my comment

 

what characteristics are they considering to be a different sex for this species? I assume it has something to do with how it reproduces???

[Edonis 28,974]

14 minutes ago, ReginaGeorge said:

Saying something has 700+ sexes without elaborating is kinds weird. What are those sexes and how did they manage to discover this?  

 

11 minutes ago, Economy said:

This! This is what i was asking in my comment

 

what characteristics are they considering to be a different sex for this species? I assume it has something to do with how it reproduces???

For most protists, like the organism in this story, sex is determined by reproductive behaviors and characteristics.  I'm not completely sure for this particular organism, but I'm looking it up. It's probably reproductive behavior. I thin  it may have to do with variants of its sex chromosomes.

Edit: Apparently it's entire genome has yet to be mapped too so that's interesting.