Audrey Dussutour, an ethologist with blob.

For the 2022 edition of the Occitanie Exposcience, we are fortunate to welcome Audrey Dussutour, Director of Research at the CNRS and Ethologist at the Centre de recherches sur la cognition animale CRCA/CBI (CNRS/Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier), specialist in the behavior of ants and of the now well known blob.

Blob ants

In 2009, she was recruited by CNRS after two postdoctoral studies in Canada and Australia. Until then, she was working on ants, but it was in Australia in 2008 that she was able to discover a new subject of study, the blob, which will be a turning point in her career as a researcher, since the blob will now begin to occupy much of her life.

Her research on ants allowed her to open up to the field of collective intelligence, she was able to work on collective travel and on collective nutrition. His work highlighted the specific behaviour of ants in specific situations such as bottling; It will also show that ants act as a collective stomach.

She continued her work on animal behaviour with the blob, which, although not an animal, but a single-celled organism demonstrates a specific behavior that is endowed with a form of intelligence. The objective of Audrey Dussutour is, through this work, to show that intelligence is not only where one expects it, and that intelligence, as well as the behaviour of unicellular organisms, can be as rich as for complex organisms.

A science smuggler

Audrey Dussutour is a researcher who invests heavily in valuing her research with the general public. Its objective is that its research is not just a work that will be unknown to everyone outside the scientific community or that will be totally inaccessible without the right keys to understanding. It is an energy-intensive and time-consuming approach, which must therefore be welcomed. For several years now, she has embarked on this long campaign which has proved to be successful with many achievements.

In 2017, released his first book Everything you ever wanted to know about the blob without ever daring to ask, which will enable the blob to reach the general public by making it discover this body quite apart. A work of valorisation and explanation that has been very successful and really allowed to discover the world of science in the best ways. As well as talking about the blob, it explains what research is and what are the current problems inherent in this environment.

In 2019, the blob makes itself visible to visitors at the Vincennes Zoo, allowing them to reach a wider audience, but also younger.

In 2021, the blob this time transcends the terrestrial boundaries and leaves in space aboard the International Space Station with the French spationaute Thomas Pesquet, in order to lead a micro-weighing experiment on the blob. In direct connection with this experiment, « Raise your blob »2000 primary classes, colleges and high schools will be able to carry out the same experience as that taking place in space to make comparisons.

2021 is also the year in which Audrey Dussutour receives the scientific mediation medal from the CNRS in recognition of her efforts and the quality of the work she provides for the enhancement of science. We have mentioned here that the actions that have been most extensive, but in reality no less than 200 mediation actions have been carried out by our sponsor.

His work of valorisation and dissemination is not yet complete, however, as 2022 will be the beginning of a new project around the blob, the citizen science project: « Behind the blob, the search ». This time it is a giant participatory science experiment, which goes further than the others because volunteers can be actresses in blob research by receiving a blob to study according to a scientific protocol. The aim is to involve different audiences in research while allowing large-scale data collection on the influence of climate change on the blob.

Audrey Dussutour has received numerous awards for his research. He was awarded the prize. « Research » in 2007. But she was also rewarded by the French society for studying animal behaviour in 2009, as well as by the Royal Belgian Academy of Sciences in 2011. Her work and contribution to the world of science are also recognized by France, which decorated her with the Order of Merit in 2021. His work on the blob won him the prize « Science for all » in 2019.

You can find our sources here

• Audrey Dussutour, first recipient of the CNRS Scientific Mediation Medal
• Audrey Dussutour, portrait
• The Blob, the cell that learns (CNRS the Journal)
• Facebook page of Audrey Dussutour
• Drey Twitter Account

If you want to learn more about the blob you can read the previously cited book, or see the documentary « The blob, a brainless genius » produced by Arte and directed by Jacques Mitsch.

Copyright : David Villa / ScienceImage / CRCA / CNRS