I mean, think about it, that chemically-induced slime mold metamorphosis, isn't that unlike what happens during puberty?

我的意思是，想想看，化学诱导的黏液霉菌变态，它难道不像青春期发生的事情吗？

Instead of blindly getting stuck in dead-ends, the slime mold adapts its behavior to save time and effort.

黏菌为了节省力气和时间调整行为， 避免盲目地卡在死胡同里。

So if you're looking to blame someone for all those awkward puberty years, tell it to the slime molds.

所以，如果你想把青春期的尴尬责怪到某人身上，跟黏液霉菌说说吧。

This behavior is hardwired, and scientists can't agree if that's intelligent, although it does give the slime mold a certain advantage.

这是一种天生的行为， 而科学界难以认同这是一种智慧，尽管它带给黏菌某种程度上的优势。

But slime mold isn't just weird because of its size or its taste.

- 但黏菌不仅仅是因为它的大小或味道而奇怪。

Studying slime mold is, it's probably one of the weirdest organisms I've worked with.

- 研究粘菌是，它可能是我接触过的最奇怪的生物之一。

As slime mold grows, it can keep track of where it's been.

随着黏菌的生长， 它可以记录自己去过的地方。

How is slime mold doing this?

黏菌是如何做到这一点的？

The acellular slime mold, which is basically just a single huge slimy cell, shows behavior similar to an animal with a simple brain.

黏菌，基本上就只是一个巨大的黏糊糊的细胞，表现出如同拥有简单大脑的动物的行为。

What they found is that the slime molds actually build networks that are pretty close to optimal.

- 他们发现，粘菌实际上建立了非常接近最佳的网络。