https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Daria+Lukianchuk 2026-07-04T17:02:48Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.39.6 https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=GMU:Diy_biolab_drivers_license_SoSe26/Daria_Lukianchuk&diff=142598 2026-06-23T17:39:52Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>== Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients ==<br /> In the second lecture of our 'Diy biolab drivers license' course, students saw live how slime mold transfers nutrients within its body. Firstly the flow goes in one direction, after a while stops and then moves in another direction. Since this is how a slime mold grows and distributes nutrients to every part of its body, I wondered: what if the slime mold were to consume multicolored food—would it change its color as a result? And what if there were several different colors involved? Would distinct color boundaries be visible, or would there be soft transitions? Or would the slime mold simply turn a single, uniform color? <br /> <br /> That's exactly why I started my experiments. For that I needed:<br /> <br /> * slime mold<br /> * Petri dishes<br /> * oat flakes<br /> * agar<br /> * food coloring<br /> * camera<br /> <br /> My final goal was to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It would be very clear to see how slime mold change colors. But in the end I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video, mainly because of technical reasons. <br /> <br /> == First experiment (08.05) ==<br /> During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically. <br /> <br /> First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared. I'll use 2% agar solution. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;nolines&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|Formula in BioLab for slime mold medium<br /> File:Preparing for measurement.jpg|All ingredients are prepared. Agar-agar, laboratory glassware for measurement and mixing, scale and spoon<br /> File:Mixed agar and water are ready for heating.jpg|Agar and water mixed together<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After that agar must be heated and then poured into Petri dishes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Heating agar.jpg|Heating agar<br /> File:Sterile Petri dishes.jpg|Sterile Petri dishes<br /> File:Filling up Petri dishes with agar.jpg|Two Petri dishes filled with agar<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When agar medium is ready it's time to put slime mold, oat flakes, and food coloring inside. Around two weeks before the experiment some of the students took slime mold with them to home, and I was one of them. During this time slime mold grew very well, and I'll use it as &quot;mother culture&quot; for my experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Mother culture in the beginning.jpg|&quot;Mother culture&quot; for my experiment<br /> File:Mother culture started growing.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;I took some parts from the Mother Culture and placed them in two Petri dishes. For the coloring process I took liquid food coloring (four colors) and judging by their composition, I assume that slime mold should like this—since the dye consists primarily of syrup and sugar. After placing slime mold and oat flakes inside Petri dishes I made a couple of color drops on top of flakes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Taking part of the Mother Culture.jpg|Taking part of the Mother Culture<br /> File:Food paint .jpg|Liquid food coloring<br /> File:Food paint description (contains sugar).jpg|Composition of food colorings (primarily made from sugar)<br /> File:Placing everything in Petri dish.jpg|Placing everything in Petri dish<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When Petri dished were ready, it was the time to prepare camera set-up for timelapse filming. After reading some manuals and instructions I was able to set settings, that camera makes one photo each minute. For the first experiment I decided to make 48 frames (48 minutes of filming), which in the end will be 2 seconds video. My teacher also suggested to feed mother culture to make it stronger for the future.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Camera stand set-up.jpg|Camera set-up with placed Petri dishes<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future (top view).jpg|Feeding Mother Culture to make it stronger<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After filming I exported it to my laptop and made a video out of the footage. By the way, instead of 48 photos, there were somehow 96 on the memory card—and on the video itself, constant flashes were visible. I saw in the camera setting &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot;, so maybe I need to enable it next time.<br /> [[File:First experiment timelapse.mp4|thumb|center]]<br /> == Second Experiment (11.05) ==<br /> Since I already understood what my workflow is like, now I could create more precise plan. I wanted to film around 11 hours of timelapse (660 frames), so I'll stay in the BioLab almost the whole day. When I arrived at 6am I wanted to check two Petri dishes from my first experiment and then decide if I'll continue with them or create new ones. <br /> <br /> In Petri dishes I noticed that slime mold changed color only in two spots: with blue and green colors, but blue one was the most visible. I assume, that place with red drop was hard ro reach for the slime mold (drops were on top of oat flakes), and place with the yellow one... I don't even know actually if it's natural color of the culture or not. But the first experiment was exactly for proving some of my concerns and to understand what to do next. <br /> <br /> I decided to prepare everything once again, because this material won't give me result that I want in the end. Also, my plan with using strong culture failed — there were mold inside. That's why I'll use slime mold from the first experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:First try after three days.jpg|First subject after three days<br /> File:First try after three days (close-up).jpg<br /> File:Mold in the mother culture after three days.jpg|Mold in Mother Culture after three days<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> I repeated all the steps from the first experiment. The only thing that was different is a way of coloring. This time, instead of yellow, I'll mix orange color (hopefully it will be more visible in the end), and I won't add drops of dye on top of the oat flakes: instead, I'll dye them completely. That way, the slime mold for sure will cover the dye.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Preparing agar again.jpg|Preparing agar again<br /> File:Coloring oat flakes.jpg|Coloring oat flakes<br /> File:Prepared second try.jpg|Prepared second try<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> Here is a video. Despite I turned on &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot; pictures in the end are too bright to see anything at all. From now on I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video. <br /> [[File:Experiment 2 - 11 hour timelapse.mp4|center|thumb]]<br /> <br /> == Third Experiment (11.05-18.05) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> After taking a closer look into first Petri dishes it was clear, that Slime mold actually didn't change the color - only agar around the body of slime mold was colorful. I started looking in the internet successful examples about coloring Slime mold and found this [https://slimoco.ning.com/forum/topics/painting-with-slime-molds-using-natural-pigment forum page]. People over there discessed a way of coloring Slime mold using iron oxide pigments, that are used in cosmetics, food packaging coloring and other diverse fields of applications. They supossed to be non-toxic, which means the slime mold might eat it. In the lab we found iron powder and also something red without a label. <br /> <br /> The coloring process is pretty straightforward: cooking poridge first and when it still warm mix it with powder. That's exactly what I did and then I prepared three Petri dishes. One with only &quot;iron powder&quot;, second with &quot;red powder&quot; and last one has both. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Iron powder and something red.jpg|Iron powder and something red<br /> File:Cooking poridge for coloring.jpg|Cooking poridge for coloring<br /> File:Colored poridge.jpg|Colored poridge<br /> File:Three Petri dishes for third experiment.jpg|Three Petri dishes for third experiment<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A week after (18.05) I came to check all Petri dishes that I had. Red powder seems to be the best result, despite the fact that I have no idea what it is. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Exp 18.05 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 16.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 17.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 18.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 19.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 20.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 21.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 22.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 23.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 24.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 25.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 26.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 27.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 28.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;So I decided to buy a couple of Iron-oxide coloring powder and it should be delievered until 05.06.<br /> <br /> == Final Experiment (10.06 -13.06) ==<br /> After I recieved 4 small packets with Iron-oxide coloring powder, I started new and last experiment. Firstly I prepared strong slime mold (03.06), and week after it was ready to use. In the same way, as before, I prepared agar, cooked poridge and then mixed it with coloring powder. Since I already tried red (unknown) powder before, this time I took 4 colors: white, green, blue and purple. Then I placed white and blue poridge in one Petri dish; green and purple in the second one.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Last coloring start.jpg|Prepared oatmeal for slime mold<br /> File:Last coloring ready.jpg|Oatmeal placed in Petri dishes with slime mold<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;Three days after (13.06) I came to check the result. Slime mold grown up very well, but unfortunately it didn't change color at all. On pictures below it's clearly visible. Despite this fact, it was interesting to see that white color almost disappeared, and purple under microscope looks like with some sort of &quot;sand/powder pattern&quot;. I have no idea whether this is the result of the dye having an uneven consistency on the oatmeal, or if there is another reason for it.&lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Last coloring done.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 13.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 16.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;In any case, the slime mold essentially &quot;disliked&quot; this type of dye, and my attempts showed that an unidentified red powder from our laboratory yielded the best results. Due primarily to a lack of time for further testing, this experiment is the final one.<br /> <br /> == Conclusion ==<br /> After conducting four experiments with the slime mold, I am satisfied with the work I accomplished, even though I did not achieve the desired result. I familiarized myself with basic procedures in a biological laboratory and learned not only about the existence of slime molds but also about how to cultivate them and their specific characteristics; I even attempted to explore their taste preferences to some extent. Additionally, I gained practical experience working with equipment such as microscopes and cameras.<br /> <br /> I believe that if I were to continue this work, the next steps would involve a more detailed study of the slime mold's nutrition (how it ingests food and whether it has specific preferences) and experimenting with different staining methods—such as cooking oatmeal in colored water rather than adding the dye afterward, or trying alternative coloring agents like juices from plants such as beets or carrots.</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=GMU:Diy_biolab_drivers_license_SoSe26/Daria_Lukianchuk&diff=142590 2026-06-13T12:20:13Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>== Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients ==<br /> In the second lecture of our 'Diy biolab drivers license' course, students saw live how slime mold transfers nutrients within its body. Firstly the flow goes in one direction, after a while stops and then moves in another direction. Since this is how a slime mold grows and distributes nutrients to every part of its body, I wondered: what if the slime mold were to consume multicolored food—would it change its color as a result? And what if there were several different colors involved? Would distinct color boundaries be visible, or would there be soft transitions? Or would the slime mold simply turn a single, uniform color? <br /> <br /> That's exactly why I started my experiments. For that I needed:<br /> <br /> * slime mold<br /> * Petri dishes<br /> * oat flakes<br /> * agar<br /> * food coloring<br /> * camera<br /> <br /> My final goal was to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It would be very clear to see how slime mold change colors. But in the end I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video, mainly because of technical reasons. <br /> <br /> == First experiment (08.05) ==<br /> During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically. <br /> <br /> First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared. I'll use 2% agar solution. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;nolines&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|Formula in BioLab for slime mold medium<br /> File:Preparing for measurement.jpg|All ingredients are prepared. Agar-agar, laboratory glassware for measurement and mixing, scale and spoon<br /> File:Mixed agar and water are ready for heating.jpg|Agar and water mixed together<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After that agar must be heated and then poured into Petri dishes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Heating agar.jpg|Heating agar<br /> File:Sterile Petri dishes.jpg|Sterile Petri dishes<br /> File:Filling up Petri dishes with agar.jpg|Two Petri dishes filled with agar<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When agar medium is ready it's time to put slime mold, oat flakes, and food coloring inside. Around two weeks before the experiment some of the students took slime mold with them to home, and I was one of them. During this time slime mold grew very well, and I'll use it as &quot;mother culture&quot; for my experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Mother culture in the beginning.jpg|&quot;Mother culture&quot; for my experiment<br /> File:Mother culture started growing.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;I took some parts from the Mother Culture and placed them in two Petri dishes. For the coloring process I took liquid food coloring (four colors) and judging by their composition, I assume that slime mold should like this—since the dye consists primarily of syrup and sugar. After placing slime mold and oat flakes inside Petri dishes I made a couple of color drops on top of flakes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Taking part of the Mother Culture.jpg|Taking part of the Mother Culture<br /> File:Food paint .jpg|Liquid food coloring<br /> File:Food paint description (contains sugar).jpg|Composition of food colorings (primarily made from sugar)<br /> File:Placing everything in Petri dish.jpg|Placing everything in Petri dish<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When Petri dished were ready, it was the time to prepare camera set-up for timelapse filming. After reading some manuals and instructions I was able to set settings, that camera makes one photo each minute. For the first experiment I decided to make 48 frames (48 minutes of filming), which in the end will be 2 seconds video. My teacher also suggested to feed mother culture to make it stronger for the future.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Camera stand set-up.jpg|Camera set-up with placed Petri dishes<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future (top view).jpg|Feeding Mother Culture to make it stronger<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After filming I exported it to my laptop and made a video out of the footage. By the way, instead of 48 photos, there were somehow 96 on the memory card—and on the video itself, constant flashes were visible. I saw in the camera setting &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot;, so maybe I need to enable it next time.<br /> [[File:First experiment timelapse.mp4|thumb|center]]<br /> == Second Experiment (11.05) ==<br /> Since I already understood what my workflow is like, now I could create more precise plan. I wanted to film around 11 hours of timelapse (660 frames), so I'll stay in the BioLab almost the whole day. When I arrived at 6am I wanted to check two Petri dishes from my first experiment and then decide if I'll continue with them or create new ones. <br /> <br /> In Petri dishes I noticed that slime mold changed color only in two spots: with blue and green colors, but blue one was the most visible. I assume, that place with red drop was hard ro reach for the slime mold (drops were on top of oat flakes), and place with the yellow one... I don't even know actually if it's natural color of the culture or not. But the first experiment was exactly for proving some of my concerns and to understand what to do next. <br /> <br /> I decided to prepare everything once again, because this material won't give me result that I want in the end. Also, my plan with using strong culture failed —there were mold inside. That's why I'll use slime mold from the first experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:First try after three days.jpg|First subject after three days<br /> File:First try after three days (close-up).jpg<br /> File:Mold in the mother culture after three days.jpg|Mold in Mother Culture after three days<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> I repeated all the steps from the first experiment. The only thing that was different is a way of coloring. This time, instead of yellow, I'll mix orange color (hopefully it will be more visible in the end), and I won't add drops of dye on top of the oat flakes: instead, I'll dye them completely. That way, the slime mold for sure will cover the dye.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Preparing agar again.jpg|Preparing agar again<br /> File:Coloring oat flakes.jpg|Coloring oat flakes<br /> File:Prepared second try.jpg|Prepared second try<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> Here is a video. Despite I turned on &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot; pictures in the end are too bright to see anything at all. From now on I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video. <br /> [[File:Experiment 2 - 11 hour timelapse.mp4|center|thumb]]<br /> <br /> == Third Experiment (11.05-18.05) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> After taking a closer look into first Petri dishes it was clear, that Slime mold actually didn't change the color - only agar around the body of slime mold was colorful. I started looking in the internet successful examples about coloring Slime mold and found this [https://slimoco.ning.com/forum/topics/painting-with-slime-molds-using-natural-pigment forum page]. People over there discessed a way of coloring Slime mold using iron oxide pigments, that are used in cosmetics, food packaging coloring and other diverse fields of applications. They supossed to be non-toxic, which means the slime mold might eat it. In the lab we found iron powder and also something red without a label. <br /> <br /> The coloring process is pretty straightforward: cooking poridge first and when it still warm mix it with powder. That's exactly what I did and then I prepared three Petri dishes. One with only &quot;iron powder&quot;, second with &quot;red powder&quot; and last one has both. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Iron powder and something red.jpg|Iron powder and something red<br /> File:Cooking poridge for coloring.jpg|Cooking poridge for coloring<br /> File:Colored poridge.jpg|Colored poridge<br /> File:Three Petri dishes for third experiment.jpg|Three Petri dishes for third experiment<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A week after (18.05) I came to check all Petri dishes that I had. Red powder seems to be the best result, despite the fact that I have no idea what it is. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Exp 18.05 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 16.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 17.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 18.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 19.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 20.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 21.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 22.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 23.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 24.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 25.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 26.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 27.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 28.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;So I decided to buy a couple of Iron-oxide coloring powder and it should be delievered until 05.06.<br /> <br /> == Final Experiment (10.06 -13.06) ==<br /> After I recieved 4 small packets with Iron-oxide coloring powder, I started new and last experiment. Firstly I prepared strong slime mold (03.06), and week after it was ready to use. In the same way, as before, I prepared agar, cooked poridge and then mixed it with coloring powder. Since I already tried red (unknown) powder before, this time I took 4 colors: white, green, blue and purple. Then I placed white and blue poridge in one Petri dish; green and purple in the second one.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Last coloring start.jpg|Prepared oatmeal for slime mold<br /> File:Last coloring ready.jpg|Oatmeal placed in Petri dishes with slime mold<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;Three days after (13.06) I came to check the result. Slime mold grown up very well, but unfortunately it didn't change color at all. On pictures below it's clearly visible. Despite this fact, it was interesting to see that white color almost disappeared, and purple under microscope looks like with some sort of &quot;sand/powder pattern&quot;. I have no idea whether this is the result of the dye having an uneven consistency on the oatmeal, or if there is another reason for it.&lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Last coloring done.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 13.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 16.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;In any case, the slime mold essentially &quot;disliked&quot; this type of dye, and my attempts showed that an unidentified red powder from our laboratory yielded the best results. Due primarily to a lack of time for further testing, this experiment is the final one.</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=GMU:Diy_biolab_drivers_license_SoSe26/Daria_Lukianchuk&diff=142589 2026-06-13T11:46:45Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>== Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients ==<br /> In the second lecture of our 'Diy biolab drivers license' course, students saw live how slime mold transfers nutrients within its body. Firstly the flow goes in one direction, after a while stops and then moves in another direction. Since this is how a slime mold grows and distributes nutrients to every part of its body, I wondered: what if the slime mold were to consume multicolored food—would it change its color as a result? And what if there were several different colors involved? Would distinct color boundaries be visible, or would there be soft transitions? Or would the slime mold simply turn a single, uniform color? <br /> <br /> That's exactly why I started my experiments. For that I needed:<br /> <br /> * slime mold<br /> * Petri dishes<br /> * oat flakes<br /> * agar<br /> * food coloring<br /> * camera<br /> <br /> My final goal was to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It would be very clear to see how slime mold change colors. But in the end I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video, mainly because of technical reasons. <br /> <br /> == First experiment (08.05) ==<br /> During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically. <br /> <br /> First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared. I'll use 2% agar solution. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;nolines&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|Formula in BioLab for slime mold medium<br /> File:Preparing for measurement.jpg|All ingredients are prepared. Agar-agar, laboratory glassware for measurement and mixing, scale and spoon<br /> File:Mixed agar and water are ready for heating.jpg|Agar and water mixed together<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After that agar must be heated and then poured into Petri dishes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Heating agar.jpg|Heating agar<br /> File:Sterile Petri dishes.jpg|Sterile Petri dishes<br /> File:Filling up Petri dishes with agar.jpg|Two Petri dishes filled with agar<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When agar medium is ready it's time to put slime mold, oat flakes, and food coloring inside. Around two weeks before the experiment some of the students took slime mold with them to home, and I was one of them. During this time slime mold grew very well, and I'll use it as &quot;mother culture&quot; for my experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Mother culture in the beginning.jpg|&quot;Mother culture&quot; for my experiment<br /> File:Mother culture started growing.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;I took some parts from the Mother Culture and placed them in two Petri dishes. For the coloring process I took liquid food coloring (four colors) and judging by their composition, I assume that slime mold should like this—since the dye consists primarily of syrup and sugar. After placing slime mold and oat flakes inside Petri dishes I made a couple of color drops on top of flakes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Taking part of the Mother Culture.jpg|Taking part of the Mother Culture<br /> File:Food paint .jpg|Liquid food coloring<br /> File:Food paint description (contains sugar).jpg|Composition of food colorings (primarily made from sugar)<br /> File:Placing everything in Petri dish.jpg|Placing everything in Petri dish<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When Petri dished were ready, it was the time to prepare camera set-up for timelapse filming. After reading some manuals and instructions I was able to set settings, that camera makes one photo each minute. For the first experiment I decided to make 48 frames (48 minutes of filming), which in the end will be 2 seconds video. My teacher also suggested to feed mother culture to make it stronger for the future.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Camera stand set-up.jpg|Camera set-up with placed Petri dishes<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future (top view).jpg|Feeding Mother Culture to make it stronger<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After filming I exported it to my laptop and made a video out of the footage. By the way, instead of 48 photos, there were somehow 96 on the memory card—and on the video itself, constant flashes were visible. I saw in the camera setting &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot;, so maybe I need to enable it next time.<br /> [[File:First experiment timelapse.mp4|thumb|center]]<br /> == Second Experiment (11.05) ==<br /> Since I already understood what my workflow is like, now I could create more precise plan. I wanted to film around 11 hours of timelapse (660 frames), so I'll stay in the BioLab almost the whole day. When I arrived at 6am I wanted to check two Petri dishes from my first experiment and then decide if I'll continue with them or create new ones. <br /> <br /> In Petri dishes I noticed that slime mold changed color only in two spots: with blue and green colors, but blue one was the most visible. I assume, that place with red drop was hard ro reach for the slime mold (drops were on top of oat flakes), and place with the yellow one... I don't even know actually if it's natural color of the culture or not. But the first experiment was exactly for proving some of my concerns and to understanf what to do next. <br /> <br /> I decided to prepare everything once again, because this material won't give me result that I want in the end. Also, my plan with using strong culture failed —there were mold inside. That's why I'll use slime mold from the first experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:First try after three days.jpg|First subject after three days<br /> File:First try after three days (close-up).jpg<br /> File:Mold in the mother culture after three days.jpg|Mold in Mother Culture after three days<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> I repeated all the steps from the first experiment. The only thing that was different is a way of coloring. This time, instead of yellow, I'll mix orange color (hopefully it will be more visible in the end), and I won't add drops of dye on top of the oat flakes: instead, I'll dye them completely. That way, the slime mold for sure will cover the dye.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Preparing agar again.jpg|Preparing agar again<br /> File:Coloring oat flakes.jpg|Coloring oat flakes<br /> File:Prepared second try.jpg|Prepared second try<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> Here is a video. Despite I turned on &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot; pictures in the end are too bright to see anything at all. From now on I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video. <br /> [[File:Experiment 2 - 11 hour timelapse.mp4|center|thumb]]<br /> <br /> == Third Experiment (11.05-18.05) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> After taking a closer look into first Petri dishes it was clear, that Slime mold actually didn't change the color - only agar around the body of slime mold was colorful. I started looking in the internet successful examples about coloring Slime mold and found this [https://slimoco.ning.com/forum/topics/painting-with-slime-molds-using-natural-pigment forum page]. People over there discessed a way of coloring Slime mold using iron oxide pigments, that are used in cosmetics, food packaging coloring and other diverse fields of applications. They supossed to be non-toxic, which means the slime mold might eat it. In the lab we found iron powder and also something red without a label. <br /> <br /> The coloring process is pretty straightforward: cooking poridge first and when it still warm mix it with powder. That's exactly what I did and then I prepared three Petri dishes. One with only &quot;iron powder&quot;, second with &quot;red powder&quot; and last one has both. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Iron powder and something red.jpg|Iron powder and something red<br /> File:Cooking poridge for coloring.jpg|Cooking poridge for coloring<br /> File:Colored poridge.jpg|Colored poridge<br /> File:Three Petri dishes for third experiment.jpg|Three Petri dishes for third experiment<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A week after (18.05) I came to check all Petri dishes that I had. Red powder seems to be the best result, despite the fact that I have no idea what it is. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Exp 18.05 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 16.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 17.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 18.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 19.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 20.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 21.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 22.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 23.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 24.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 25.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 26.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 27.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 28.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;So I decided to buy a couple of Iron-oxide coloring powder and it should be delievered until 05.06.<br /> <br /> == Last Experiment (10.06 -13.06) ==<br /> After I recieved 4 small packets with Iron-oxide coloring powder, I started new and last experiment. Firstly I prepared strong slime mold (03.06), and week after it was ready to use. In the same way, as before, I prepared agar, cooked oatmeal and then mixed it with coloring powder. Since I already tried red (unknown) powder, this time I took 4 colors: white, green, blue and purple. Then I placed white and blue oatmeal in one Petri dish; green and purple in the second one.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Last coloring start.jpg|Prepared oatmeal for slime mold<br /> File:Last coloring ready.jpg|Oatmeal placed in Petri dishes with slime mold<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;ghghghghghh<br /> <br /> dfgdfg&lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Last coloring done.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 13.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 13.06 16.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;dfgdfgfg</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_16.jpg&diff=142588 2026-06-13T11:28:01Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 16</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_15.jpg&diff=142587 2026-06-13T11:27:43Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 15</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_14.jpg&diff=142586 2026-06-13T11:27:26Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 14</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_13.jpg&diff=142585 2026-06-13T11:27:10Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 13</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_12.jpg&diff=142584 2026-06-13T11:26:48Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 12</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_11.jpg&diff=142583 2026-06-13T11:26:29Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 11</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_10.jpg&diff=142582 2026-06-13T11:26:07Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 10</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_9.jpg&diff=142581 2026-06-13T11:25:42Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 9</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_8.jpg&diff=142580 2026-06-13T11:25:10Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 8</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_7.jpg&diff=142579 2026-06-13T11:24:44Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 7</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_6.jpg&diff=142578 2026-06-13T11:24:29Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 6</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_5.jpg&diff=142577 2026-06-13T11:24:12Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 5</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_4.jpg&diff=142576 2026-06-13T11:23:57Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 4</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_3.jpg&diff=142575 2026-06-13T11:23:42Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 3</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_2.jpg&diff=142574 2026-06-13T11:23:28Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 2</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_13.06_1.jpg&diff=142573 2026-06-13T11:23:13Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 13.06 1</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Last_coloring_done.jpg&diff=142572 2026-06-13T11:22:45Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Last coloring done</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Last_coloring_ready.jpg&diff=142571 2026-06-13T11:22:15Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Last coloring ready</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Last_coloring_start.jpg&diff=142570 2026-06-13T11:21:45Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Last coloring start</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Patterns_(22-24).pdf&diff=142559 2026-06-03T08:35:17Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Patterns (22-24)</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Patterns_(12-21).pdf&diff=142558 2026-06-03T08:34:55Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Patterns (12-21)</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Patterns_(7-11).pdf&diff=142557 2026-06-03T08:29:06Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Patterns (7-11)</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Patterns_(1-6).pdf&diff=142556 2026-06-03T08:28:39Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Patterns (1-6)</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=GMU:Diy_biolab_drivers_license_SoSe26/Daria_Lukianchuk&diff=142532 2026-05-18T09:30:57Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>== Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients ==<br /> In the second lecture of our 'Diy biolab drivers license' course, students saw live how slime mold transfers nutrients within its body. Firstly the flow goes in one direction, after a while stops and then moves in another direction. Since this is how a slime mold grows and distributes nutrients to every part of its body, I wondered: what if the slime mold were to consume multicolored food—would it change its color as a result? And what if there were several different colors involved? Would distinct color boundaries be visible, or would there be soft transitions? Or would the slime mold simply turn a single, uniform color? <br /> <br /> That's exactly why I started my experiments. For that I needed:<br /> <br /> * slime mold<br /> * Petri dishes<br /> * oat flakes<br /> * agar<br /> * food coloring<br /> * camera<br /> <br /> My final goal was to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It would be very clear to see how slime mold change colors. But in the end I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video, mainly because of technical reasons. <br /> <br /> == First experiment (08.05) ==<br /> During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically. <br /> <br /> First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared. I'll use 2% agar solution. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;nolines&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|Formula in BioLab for slime mold medium<br /> File:Preparing for measurement.jpg|All ingredients are prepared. Agar-agar, laboratory glassware for measurement and mixing, scale and spoon<br /> File:Mixed agar and water are ready for heating.jpg|Agar and water mixed together<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After that agar must be heated and then poured into Petri dishes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Heating agar.jpg|Heating agar<br /> File:Sterile Petri dishes.jpg|Sterile Petri dishes<br /> File:Filling up Petri dishes with agar.jpg|Two Petri dishes filled with agar<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When agar medium is ready it's time to put slime mold, oat flakes, and food coloring inside. Around two weeks before the experiment some of the students took slime mold with them to home, and I was one of them. During this time slime mold grew very well, and I'll use it as &quot;mother culture&quot; for my experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Mother culture in the beginning.jpg|&quot;Mother culture&quot; for my experiment<br /> File:Mother culture started growing.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;I took some parts from the Mother Culture and placed them in two Petri dishes. For the coloring process I took liquid food coloring (four colors) and judging by their composition, I assume that slime mold should like this—since the dye consists primarily of syrup and sugar. After placing slime mold and oat flakes inside Petri dishes I made a couple of color drops on top of flakes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Taking part of the Mother Culture.jpg|Taking part of the Mother Culture<br /> File:Food paint .jpg|Liquid food coloring<br /> File:Food paint description (contains sugar).jpg|Composition of food colorings (primarily made from sugar)<br /> File:Placing everything in Petri dish.jpg|Placing everything in Petri dish<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When Petri dished were ready, it was the time to prepare camera set-up for timelapse filming. After reading some manuals and instructions I was able to set settings, that camera makes one photo each minute. For the first experiment I decided to make 48 frames (48 minutes of filming), which in the end will be 2 seconds video. My teacher also suggested to feed mother culture to make it stronger for the future.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Camera stand set-up.jpg|Camera set-up with placed Petri dishes<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future (top view).jpg|Feeding Mother Culture to make it stronger<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After filming I exported it to my laptop and made a video out of the footage. By the way, instead of 48 photos, there were somehow 96 on the memory card—and on the video itself, constant flashes were visible. I saw in the camera setting &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot;, so maybe I need to enable it next time.<br /> [[File:First experiment timelapse.mp4|thumb|center]]<br /> == Second Experiment (11.05) ==<br /> Since I already understood what my workflow is like, now I could create more precise plan. I wanted to film around 11 hours of timelapse (660 frames), so I'll stay in the BioLab almost the whole day. When I arrived at 6am I wanted to check two Petri dishes from my first experiment and then decide if I'll continue with them or create new ones. <br /> <br /> In Petri dishes I noticed that slime mold changed color only in two spots: with blue and green colors, but blue one was the most visible. I assume, that place with red drop was hard ro reach for the slime mold (drops were on top of oat flakes), and place with the yellow one... I don't even know actually if it's natural color of the culture or not. But the first experiment was exactly for proving some of my concerns and to understanf what to do next. <br /> <br /> I decided to prepare everything once again, because this material won't give me result that I want in the end. Also, my plan with using strong culture failed —there were mold inside. That's why I'll use slime mold from the first experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:First try after three days.jpg|First subject after three days<br /> File:First try after three days (close-up).jpg<br /> File:Mold in the mother culture after three days.jpg|Mold in Mother Culture after three days<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> I repeated all the steps from the first experiment. The only thing that was different is a way of coloring. This time, instead of yellow, I'll mix orange color (hopefully it will be more visible in the end), and I won't add drops of dye on top of the oat flakes: instead, I'll dye them completely. That way, the slime mold for sure will cover the dye.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Preparing agar again.jpg|Preparing agar again<br /> File:Coloring oat flakes.jpg|Coloring oat flakes<br /> File:Prepared second try.jpg|Prepared second try<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> Here is a video. Despite I turned on &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot; pictures in the end are too bright to see anything at all. From now on I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video. <br /> [[File:Experiment 2 - 11 hour timelapse.mp4|center|thumb]]<br /> <br /> == Third Experiment (11.05-18.05) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> After taking a closer look into first Petri dishes it was clear, that Slime mold actually didn't change the color - only agar around the body of slime mold was colorful. I started looking in the internet successful examples about coloring Slime mold and found this [https://slimoco.ning.com/forum/topics/painting-with-slime-molds-using-natural-pigment forum page]. People over there discessed a way of coloring Slime mold using iron oxide pigments, that are used in cosmetics, food packaging coloring and other diverse fields of applications. They supossed to be non-toxic, which means the slime mold might eat it. In the lab we found iron powder and also something red without a label. <br /> <br /> The coloring process is pretty straightforward: cooking poridge first and when it still warm mix it with powder. That's exactly what I did and then I prepared three Petri dishes. One with only &quot;iron powder&quot;, second with &quot;red powder&quot; and last one has both. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Iron powder and something red.jpg|Iron powder and something red<br /> File:Cooking poridge for coloring.jpg|Cooking poridge for coloring<br /> File:Colored poridge.jpg|Colored poridge<br /> File:Three Petri dishes for third experiment.jpg|Three Petri dishes for third experiment<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A week after (18.05) I came to check all Petri dishes that I had. Red powder seems to be the best result, despite the fact that I have no idea what it is. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;packed&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Exp 18.05 2.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 3.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 4.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 5.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 6.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 7.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 8.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 9.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 10.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 11.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 12.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 14.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 15.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 16.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 17.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 18.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 19.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 20.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 21.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 22.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 23.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 24.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 1.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 25.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 26.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 27.jpg<br /> File:Exp 18.05 28.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;So I decided to buy a couple of Iron-oxide coloring powder and it should be delievered until 05.06.///</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=GMU:Diy_biolab_drivers_license_SoSe26/Daria_Lukianchuk&diff=142531 2026-05-18T09:22:20Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>== Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients ==<br /> In the second lecture of our 'Diy biolab drivers license' course, students saw live how slime mold transfers nutrients within its body. Firstly the flow goes in one direction, after a while stops and then moves in another direction. Since this is how a slime mold grows and distributes nutrients to every part of its body, I wondered: what if the slime mold were to consume multicolored food—would it change its color as a result? And what if there were several different colors involved? Would distinct color boundaries be visible, or would there be soft transitions? Or would the slime mold simply turn a single, uniform color? <br /> <br /> That's exactly why I started my experiments. For that I needed:<br /> <br /> * slime mold<br /> * Petri dishes<br /> * oat flakes<br /> * agar<br /> * food coloring<br /> * camera<br /> <br /> My final goal was to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It would be very clear to see how slime mold change colors. But in the end I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video, mainly because of technical reasons. <br /> <br /> == First experiment (08.05) ==<br /> During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically. <br /> <br /> First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared. I'll use 2% agar solution. &lt;gallery mode=&quot;nolines&quot;&gt;<br /> File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|Formula in BioLab for slime mold medium<br /> File:Preparing for measurement.jpg|All ingredients are prepared. Agar-agar, laboratory glassware for measurement and mixing, scale and spoon<br /> File:Mixed agar and water are ready for heating.jpg|Agar and water mixed together<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After that agar must be heated and then poured into Petri dishes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Heating agar.jpg|Heating agar<br /> File:Sterile Petri dishes.jpg|Sterile Petri dishes<br /> File:Filling up Petri dishes with agar.jpg|Two Petri dishes filled with agar<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When agar medium is ready it's time to put slime mold, oat flakes, and food coloring inside. Around two weeks before the experiment some of the students took slime mold with them to home, and I was one of them. During this time slime mold grew very well, and I'll use it as &quot;mother culture&quot; for my experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Mother culture in the beginning.jpg|&quot;Mother culture&quot; for my experiment<br /> File:Mother culture started growing.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;I took some parts from the Mother Culture and placed them in two Petri dishes. For the coloring process I took liquid food coloring (four colors) and judging by their composition, I assume that slime mold should like this—since the dye consists primarily of syrup and sugar. After placing slime mold and oat flakes inside Petri dishes I made a couple of color drops on top of flakes. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Taking part of the Mother Culture.jpg|Taking part of the Mother Culture<br /> File:Food paint .jpg|Liquid food coloring<br /> File:Food paint description (contains sugar).jpg|Composition of food colorings (primarily made from sugar)<br /> File:Placing everything in Petri dish.jpg|Placing everything in Petri dish<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;When Petri dished were ready, it was the time to prepare camera set-up for timelapse filming. After reading some manuals and instructions I was able to set settings, that camera makes one photo each minute. For the first experiment I decided to make 48 frames (48 minutes of filming), which in the end will be 2 seconds video. My teacher also suggested to feed mother culture to make it stronger for the future.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Camera stand set-up.jpg|Camera set-up with placed Petri dishes<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future (top view).jpg|Feeding Mother Culture to make it stronger<br /> File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future.jpg<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;After filming I exported it to my laptop and made a video out of the footage. By the way, instead of 48 photos, there were somehow 96 on the memory card—and on the video itself, constant flashes were visible. I saw in the camera setting &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot;, so maybe I need to enable it next time.<br /> [[File:First experiment timelapse.mp4|thumb|center]]<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Second Experiment (11.05) ==<br /> Since I already understood what my workflow is like, now I could create more precise plan. I wanted to film around 11 hours of timelapse (660 frames), so I'll stay in the BioLab almost the whole day. When I arrived at 6am I wanted to check two Petri dishes from my first experiment and then decide if I'll continue with them or create new ones. <br /> <br /> In Petri dishes I noticed that slime mold changed color only in two spots: with blue and green colors, but blue one was the most visible. I assume, that place with red drop was hard ro reach for the slime mold (drops were on top of oat flakes), and place with the yellow one... I don't even know actually if it's natural color of the culture or not. But the first experiment was exactly for proving some of my concerns and to understanf what to do next. <br /> <br /> I decided to prepare everything once again, because this material won't give me result that I want in the end. Also, my plan with using strong culture failed —there were mold inside. That's why I'll use slime mold from the first experiment.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:First try after three days.jpg|First subject after three days<br /> File:First try after three days (close-up).jpg<br /> File:Mold in the mother culture after three days.jpg|Mold in Mother Culture after three days<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> I repeated all the steps from the first experiment. The only thing that was different is a way of coloring. This time, instead of yellow, I'll mix orange color (hopefully it will be more visible in the end), and I won't add drops of dye on top of the oat flakes: instead, I'll dye them completely. That way, the slime mold for sure will cover the dye.&lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Preparing agar again.jpg|Preparing agar again<br /> File:Coloring oat flakes.jpg|Coloring oat flakes<br /> File:Prepared second try.jpg|Prepared second try<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> Here is a video. Despite I turned on &quot;Anti-flickering mode&quot; pictures in the end are too bright to see anything at all. From now on I decided to make a session of photography/micro photography instead of filming a video. <br /> [[File:Experiment 2 - 11 hour timelapse.mp4|center|thumb]]<br /> <br /> == Third Experiment (11.05-18.05) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> After taking a closer look into first Petri dishes it was clear, that Slime mold actually didn't change the color - only agar around the body of slime mold was colorful. I started looking in the internet successful examples about coloring Slime mold and found this [https://slimoco.ning.com/forum/topics/painting-with-slime-molds-using-natural-pigment forum page]. People over there discessed a way of coloring Slime mold using iron oxide pigments, that are used in cosmetics, food packaging coloring and other diverse fields of applications. They supossed to be non-toxic, which means the slime mold might eat it. In the lab we found iron powder and also something red without a label. <br /> <br /> The coloring process is pretty straightforward: cooking poridge first and when it still warm mix it with powder. That's exactly what I did and then I prepared three Petri dishes. One with only &quot;iron powder&quot;, second with &quot;red powder&quot; and last one has both. &lt;gallery&gt;<br /> File:Iron powder and something red.jpg|Iron powder and something red<br /> File:Cooking poridge for coloring.jpg|Cooking poridge for coloring<br /> File:Colored poridge.jpg|Colored poridge<br /> File:Three Petri dishes for third experiment.jpg|Three Petri dishes for third experiment<br /> &lt;/gallery&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> A week after (18.05) I came to check all Petri dishes that I had. <br /> <br /> ///</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_28.jpg&diff=142530 2026-05-18T09:22:00Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 28</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_27.jpg&diff=142529 2026-05-18T09:21:41Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 27</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_26.jpg&diff=142528 2026-05-18T09:21:18Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 26</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_25.jpg&diff=142527 2026-05-18T09:20:36Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 25</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_24.jpg&diff=142526 2026-05-18T09:20:09Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 24</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_23.jpg&diff=142525 2026-05-18T09:19:47Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 23</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_22.jpg&diff=142524 2026-05-18T09:19:19Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 22</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_21.jpg&diff=142523 2026-05-18T09:18:52Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 21</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_20.jpg&diff=142522 2026-05-18T09:18:31Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 20</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_19.jpg&diff=142521 2026-05-18T09:18:06Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 19</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_18.jpg&diff=142520 2026-05-18T09:17:46Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 18</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_17.jpg&diff=142519 2026-05-18T09:17:25Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 17</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_16.jpg&diff=142518 2026-05-18T09:17:04Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 16</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_15.jpg&diff=142517 2026-05-18T09:16:37Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 15</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_14.jpg&diff=142516 2026-05-18T09:16:13Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 14</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_13.jpg&diff=142515 2026-05-18T09:15:52Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 13</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_12.jpg&diff=142514 2026-05-18T09:15:19Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 12</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_11.jpg&diff=142513 2026-05-18T09:14:53Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 11</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_10.jpg&diff=142512 2026-05-18T09:14:32Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 10</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_9.jpg&diff=142511 2026-05-18T09:13:57Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 9</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_8.jpg&diff=142510 2026-05-18T09:13:32Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 8</div>

Daria Lukianchuk https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/index.php?title=File:Exp_18.05_7.jpg&diff=142509 2026-05-18T09:12:57Z

<p>Daria Lukianchuk: </p> <hr /> <div>Exp 18.05 7</div>

Daria Lukianchuk