Researchers in Japan have developed an analog, amoeba-based computer that offers efficient solutions to something called ‘The Traveling Salesman Problem’ — something which regular computers find impossible to solve. A single-celled amoeboid organism, a plasmodium of true slime mold Physarum polycephalum. Image credits: Masashi Aono. Amoeba brain Here’s a fun problem: let’s say you’re a traveling salesman. You have to go to a number of different cities and showcase your products, and then return back home. You only need to visit each city once, of course, and you know the distance between every two cities. So what’s the shortest possible route?