ABSTRACT
A slime mould cell may contain thousands, often millions, of individual nuclei, fused together and operating as one collective entity. Within the organism, a channel of protoplasmic streaming distributes nutrients across the cell mass, as well as communicating valuable chemical information about environmental conditions. The organism retreated from empty areas of the maze and adapted its morphology to form a single pathway, choosing from four possible solutions. The experiment was repeated several times, a significant number resulting in the slime mould selecting the shortest and most efficient route. Questions embedded within the experimental design may relate to navigational abilities, foraging behaviour, pattern formation, or problem-solving; or people may simply wish to provide an interesting habitat for it to explore. The format of one workshop invites participants to create an experimental environment for the slime mould to explore within a small petri dish. As a model organism, it offers myriad curiosities to investigate questions of decision-making, distributed intelligence, and computation.
