Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA)

TOULOUSE CEDEX 9

The Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA) is part of the Center for Integrative Biology in Toulouse (CBI Toulouse). The main goal of the CRCA is the multidisciplinary and comparative study of cognitive processing in different animal models, from invertebrates to vertebrates.

By assembling hundreds of small blobs, students from all over France broke the world record for the longest blob. This unusual record was organised in partnership with Audrey Dussutour, blob specialist at the CNRS. It took place on 3 June 2022 at the Blaise Pascal high school in Châteauroux.

As part of the participatory science experiment "Behind the blob, the research", 60 000 blobs in the form of sclerotia are prepared to be sent to selected volunteers.

As part of the year of biology 2021/2022, the CNRS is launching a citizen science project, "Behind the blob, the research", under the guidance of ethologist Audrey Dussutour.

Researcher in neuroethology at the Centre de recherches sur la cognition animale (CRCA), he studies the navigation behavior of ants both in the laboratory and in the field. His work has earned him the CNRS bronze medal in 2021.

CNES, in partnership with CNRS and with the support of the Toulouse Academy, is offering 4,500 primary, secondary and high school students the opportunity to take part in an original educational experiment based on the study of the behaviour of the Slime mould "Physarum polycephalum".

In preparation for its departure to the International Space Station, the blob is sterilised and glued in a hermetically sealed box called the "Blob Box". Four blobs will join Thomas Pesquet's (ESA) "Alpha" mission in August 2021.

In August 2021, four slime moulds will join the International Space Station and Thomas Pesquet's "Alpha" mission (ESA). On board, the French astronaut will conduct various experiments, also carried out on Earth by thousands of students thanks to the support of Cnes and CNRS.

Scientists at the Centre for Research on Animal Cognition (CRCA) have developed microrobots whose algorithm was inspired by the social behaviour of certain animals or insects.

Recherches sur la cognition animale au CRCA

Among its many characteristics, the blob, although lacking a brain, is capable of learning from its experiences and transmitting the information learned to other individuals.

Ant's net : collective and individual intelligence

CNRS Images,