It divides upon itself, growing by nuclear division within a shared cytoplasm. and eventually forming a multinucleated plasmodium.
When iindivisual slime mold cells have eaten all of the food in their immediate area, they join together into one larger mass.
This larger mass is driven by chemical signals (chemotaxis) and is able to determine the most efficient route towards nearby food sources.
It extends itself in different directions – experimenting with different pathways but never repeating the same route twice, effectively remembering its progress.
Slime molds do not posess a nervous system or organs.
They are able to intelligently navigate through mazes and across complex obstacles, but do not posess a head or any center to their experience.
If you take multiple swabs of physarum polycephalum and combine them together in a petri dish, they will grow to seek food as one.
It grows at an average rate of 1mm per hour, and usually in the dark.
The following footage was primarily captured through time lapse using a microscopic lens attachment.
Not only do slime molds challenge anthropocentric assumptions about consciousness and problem solving, they present a way of being and cooperating that is wholly removed from any form of hierarchy.
This archive exists to document the beauty of their growth and development.
This ]\
Th It