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THE LINK. “We argue that slime moulds are powerful model systems for solving several outstanding questions in collective behaviour. In particular, slime mould may hold the key to linking individual-level mechanisms to colony-level behaviours.” https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article-abstract/40/6/798/2400841 View in LinkedIn

LARGE CELLS. “A cellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a monstrously large single cell, visible by an unaided eye.” https://lnkd.in/gxgxfjB View in LinkedIn

LARGEST SINGLE CELLED ORGANISM ON EARTH, that can grow to three square meters. They also find the quickest route to food on mazes. Slime molds can drive a robot. https://lnkd.in/gQjgVZg View in LinkedIn

PULSING SLIME MOLD. https://lnkd.in/gw3tH27 View in LinkedIn

TIME LAPSE of slime mold colony growth over 8 hours, forming a giant fruiting body, a new community structure. https://lnkd.in/gNYfh5m View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends focused on the not-so-humble slime mold family. Victorians liked flea circuses. Slime molds would have been better under time lapse. The human time scale misses the details of lives living on different time scales. Next weekend we see the slime molds at their best. View in LinkedIn

ON SLIME MOLDS AND ANTS. “Path optimization in Physarum when traversing a maze is related to ant algorithmics. Ants in a formicary undertake coordinated behavior for the location and transportation of food.” https://ukacc.group.shef.ac.uk/proceedings/control2008/papers/p246.pdf View in LinkedIn

LEARNED BEHAVIOR. “If Physarum polycephalum is subjected to a regular series of shocks, it can learn the pattern and modify its behavior in anticipation of the next stimulus.” https://ukacc.group.shef.ac.uk/proceedings/control2008/papers/p246.pdf View in LinkedIn

LOSS OF SAMENESS. "Also, different genes are contributed from each parent at every fusion that further contributes to loss of sameness. Finally, given equal distribution at each division, other molecules or atoms present in a founding cell are not likely to be present after the clone has produced a lineage of about fifty population doublings." (L. Haflick, contrarian). https://lnkd.in/esfPTAR View in LinkedIn

COMBINATION OF TWO FORMS. “In Physarum, amoebae are typically haploid. Two Physarum amoebae of different mating types combine to create a diploid cell, which then grows by a process involving repeated division without separation of the cytoplasm. The resulting large plasmodium is a single cell with multiple diploid nuclei.” https://ukacc.group.shef.ac.uk/proceedings/control2008/papers/p246.pdf View in LinkedIn