improvisation with a teeny tiny brain

[rivendellrose]

Okay, seriously, this is awesome.

In a blog post bearing the fabulous title "Iterating Toward Bethlehem," here is the story of a teeny little spider with "a pinpoint brain with less than a million neurons, somehow capable of mammalian-level problem-solving. And just maybe, a whole new approach to cognition."

More details, and links to the original articles in PDF, are at the link above. ♥ Further sample quote:

[W]e have here a spider who eats other spiders, who changes her foraging strategy on the fly, who resorts to trial and error techniques to lure prey into range. She will brave a full frontal assault against prey carrying an egg sac, but sneak up upon an unencumbered target of the same species. Many insects and arachnids are known for fairly complex behaviors (bumblebees are the proletarian's archetype; Sphex wasps are the cool grad-school example), but those behaviors are hardwired and inflexible. Portia here is not so rote: Portia improvises.

Nature is so freaking cool. ♥

Comments

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's one of Peter Watts' old blog posts! I should have expected that, given the writing style. :D

(If you haven't read any of his books, you really should. They're wonderful.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I have not read any of his stuff yet, but I just downloaded his Hugo-nominated short story and his most recent novel from his website, and shall happily enjoy their addition to the pile of e-reading I have to do over my enforced vacation. Anybody who writes that eloquently about spider intelligence is somebody I want to get to know better. ;)

Just finished skimming the article about him on Wikipedia and realized - he's the poor Canadian author who had all that trouble with the US border a few years ago. So yes, I have heard of him, but this will still be the first time I've read any of his stuff. Poor fellow, that was such a mess.