Slime Mould

Thanks to Phelan, the mystery of yesterday’s garden discovery has been solved. It’s slime mould, which is now officially one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of. Listen to this:

“It has been observed that they can find their way through mazes by spreading out and choosing the shortest path, an interesting example of information processing without a nervous system.”

and this:

“In 2006, researchers at the University of Southampton and the University of Kobe reported that they had built a six-legged robot whose movement was remotely controlled by a Physarum slime mould. The mould directed the robot into a dark corner most similar to its natural habitat.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mould)

This is what it looks like as of this evening:

This concludes today’s biology lesson.