#slime mold

[myxomycota]

Brefeldia maxima / tapioca slime mold

by purplesquid

[sajanrai]

Myxmy - a sentient slime mould masquerading as humanoid

[zegalba]

Slime Mold

[ex0skeletal-undead]

sometimes I will find myself thinking of

*~*~*~slime molds~*~*~*

oughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

(photo by alexis_orion)

[1five1two]

Elaeomyxa cerifera (Myxomycete). Slime Mold. This species has a characteristic ring of wax around the top of the stalk. The thin-film irdescence occurs consistently as bands of different colours, possible due to a consistent variation in the peridial membrane thickness.

[beakers-and-telescopes]

Slime Molds and Intelligence

Okay, despite going into a biology related field, I only just learned about slime molds, and hang on, because it gets WILD.

This guy in the picture is called Physarum polycephalum, one of the more commonly studied types of slime mold. It was originally thought to be a fungus, though we now know it to actually be a type of protist (a sort of catch-all group for any eukaryotic organism that isn't a plant, animal, or a fungus). As protists go, it's pretty smart. It is very good at finding the most efficient way to get to a food source, or multiple food sources. In fact, placing a slime mold on a map with food sources at all of the major cities can give a pretty good idea of an efficient transportation system. Here is a slime mold growing over a map of Tokyo compared to the actual Tokyo railway system:

Pretty good, right? Though they don't have eyes, ears, or noses, the slime molds are able to sense objects at a distance kind of like a spider using tiny differences in tension and vibrations to sense a fly caught in its web. Instead of a spiderweb, though, this organism relies on proteins called TRP channels. The slime mold can then make decisions about where it wants to grow. In one experiment, a slime mold was put in a petri dish with one glass disk on one side and 3 glass disks on the other side. Even though the disks weren't a food source, the slime mold chose to grow towards and investigate the side with 3 disks over 70% of the time.

Even more impressive is that these organisms have some sense of time. If you blow cold air on them every hour on the hour, they'll start to shrink away in anticipation when before the air hits after only 3 hours.

Now, I hear you say, this is cool and all, but like, I can do all those things too. The slime mold isn't special...

To which I would like to point out that you have a significant advantage over the slime mold, seeing as you have a brain.

Yeah, these protists can accomplish all of the things I just talked about, and they just... don't have any sort of neural architecture whatsoever? They don't even have brain cells, let alone the structures that should allow them to process sensory information and make decisions because of it. Nothing that should give them a sense of time. Scientists literally have no idea how this thing is able to "think'. But however it does, it is sure to be a form of cognition that is completely and utterly different from anything that we're familiar with.

[samimarkart]

in my slime mold era

[seabeck]

Slime mold

[snailspng]

Slime mold PNGs

(1. Physarum album / 2. Arcyria denudata / 3. Comatricha / 4. Hemitrichia calyculata / 5. Arcyria denudata / 6. Certaiomyxa fruticulosa)

[myxomycota]

Collembola among Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa slime mold by Andy Sands

[cedarsalute]

A collection of mushrooms ive found in Wisconsin, USA 🍄

[paper-pendragon]

motivating myself to write my paper about fungi by talking about fungi:

in Tokyo in 2010, scientists wanted to test the limits of 'brainless' organisms, especially their decision making skills, so they made a little obstacle course in a Petri dish and sent a slime mold to navigate it. they set it up with light and oats, the oats acting as goals and the lights acting as deterrents. the oats were placed in such a way that represented the major train stations in Tokyo. in LESS THAN TWO DAYS, the slime mold had perfectly navigated the obstacle course and hit all the oat stations. when the scientists compared the Petri dish patterns to the city, they noticed that the slime mold had perfectly replicated the train lines of Tokyo. in the most efficient way possible. a task which took humans FIVE YEARS to plan, design and build. slime molds do not have nervous systems, brains, or (as it was previously believed) the ability to form complex thoughts. however, these molds were able to design this system quicker and more efficiently than humans ver have. they were even able to create a path for the shortest route through an IKEA.

the whole concept that organisms other than humans are unable to make decisions or solve complex problems is incredibly outdated and should have been disproven years ago when the Great Chain of Being was first challenged, but these ideas have stuck around for hundreds of years and are only now beginning to be opposed. for years, people thought that organisms like octopi could be tested on in labs because they were unable to feel pain or form thoughts, but only now is it being discovered that octopi have huge brains and are capable of numerous skills, they can recognize people and miss them, and they have the same or even better understanding of the world around them than humans. every other organisms' intelligence has been measured against humans for so long, that the idea that other creatures may have a different way of processing information is something completely unheard of.

in conclusion: brainless fungi and molds are redefining what humans believe to be 'intelligence' by exhibiting amazing navigation of obstacle courses, problem-solving and decision-making skills.

[lionfloss]

Physarum sp (baubles) by Max Mudie

[tellioari]

Mold Dye, Gas Masks, Slime Mold, Puffball Mushrooms, and the Mold Jungle!

Gas Masks are a new head armor piece that comes in two variants: the basic kind, crafted with 3 leather, 2 charcoal, and a gold ingot - and the upgrade, which uses 2 amethyst, 2 copper, a basic gas mask and a diamond helmet. Both will protect you from the new Toxic Spores status effect - a very slow but persistent poison that occurs near Mold-like plants - as well as splash potions/lingering potions.

Slime Mold is a substance found creeping around large taigas and birch forests. It will wander around the landscape very slowly, and when bonemealed will spread. It can be used in place of Slimeballs in recipies.

Puffball mushrooms are a new type of mushroom, spawning in almost any biome in the right conditions. Chunks of it can be grilled in a furnace and turned into a Mushroom Burger. It will go through three phases - the first phase, the second phase (where it can be broken and eaten), and the third phase when it spores and becomes slightly toxic to be in close proximity of. There is also a large counterpart of all of these blocks, which will go through the same phases.

The Mold Jungle consists of a bunch of new fungi (including the Moldstalks, a bamboo-esque tall fungi, and Stinkhorns, whose young sprouting form is safe to eat) and new ground cover blocks including Substrate, Substrate Blocks, Mycelium Roots and Mycelium Blocks. Upon these will grow all sorts of fungi, including ones already shown in previous dye posts.

[seabeck]

All lined up