Medien Wiki - User contributions [en]

Hanna Bremerich, Fiene Freist

2025-02-20T16:20:00Z

Hanna Bremerich: Text about coding stuff

='''<big>The Verdant Symphony</big>'''=
<blockquote>
This project fuses nature, technology, and music into a unique blend. Six plants, equipped with gas sensors, guide motors that pluck guitar strings, each producing an individual tone. The result is a living symphony, where the natural signals of plants shape a new fusion of nature, sound and the digital world.[[File:The Verdant Symphony 1.jpg|center|thumb|954x954px]]</blockquote>

==Brainstorming and concept development==
[[File:Seminar.jpg|thumb|438x438px]]
Inspired by some exemplary works presented during the first two seminar sessions, Hanna quickly came up with the idea of having plants play the guitar together. I was immediately fascinated by this idea and very grateful that Hanna wanted to collaborate with me. Together, we developed the concept further week by week. I documented and organized this thought process and the resulting ideas on a Miro board:

[https://miro.com/welcomeonboard/RXp4WGw5Y0lxU0VpK0RRUHF3QWMyYmIvUmlLYlA1cXkxcTJ4UVBDM1BLT2s3dDB6VnovR2dpN1hEd2pYWG9PeUpZZU1PV3RsVERIWUJFOGtkcUhPem1TVHBsNVJPZlA3RXozeC9NbVR5QVlmMHhOMUxLd3VXOHY4d1dOK3NVOXVyVmtkMG5hNDA3dVlncnBvRVB2ZXBnPT0hdjE=?share_link_id=117672028285 Miro Board]

Initially, the plan was for two plants to interact and control the guitar. Later, we considered having a guitar and a computer-generated voice play music together, but we eventually abandoned this idea.
In the end, we settled on the concept of six plants, each playing a single guitar string, controlled by the gas emissions of the respective plant.
This idea was then presented during the midterm presentation. Hanna had created an initial version of the code, while I had already started working on the structural implementation of a mount for the motors and had designed a construction plan for it.

(written by Fiene)

==Technical implementation==
[[File:Seminar 2.jpg|left|thumb|396x396px]]

===Embedded systems development ===

During our project, we used Visual Studio Code and Arduino to program and control motors based on sensor data. Our first challenge was to determine how the motor should move. We aimed to ensure that the motors moved only once per activation, producing a single tone. To achieve this, I created an initial test code to establish how to instruct the motor to move right when it was on the left and vice versa.

Next, we needed to develop a pattern to simulate incoming sensor data. The second test code introduced random numbers to help us simulate a trigger value for the motors. This was combined with our previous motor movement code to create a preliminary response system.

I then worked on enabling two motors to move independently. To accomplish this, I implemented two different random numbers so that each motor would move at a different "trigger value". Adjustments were made to delay times to introduce a more natural, randomized effect.

To acquire real sensor data, we opted for an MQ-2 gas sensor, which detects combustible gases. We initially attempted to retrieve analog output values from one sensor. Since the raw sensor data wasn’t as representative as we needed, I decided to convert the readings into ppm (parts per million) for more meaningful analysis.

The next step was to replace our previously used random numbers with actual gas concentration values measured by the sensor. I then expanded the system to incorporate six sensors and six motors, which required multiple iterations to perfect. A major challenge was implementing all sensor values, motors, and their corresponding variables into a function that allowed each sensor-motor pair to operate independently. We replaced the general delay time in the loop with millis() to enhance achieve that.
[[File:SG90 9g Micro Servo.jpg|thumb|273x273px]]
After measuring the gas concentrations produced by plants over time, I made several adjustments to optimize the installation. Each motor was assigned an individual trigger value based on the gas readings from its respective sensor. Since sensor readings were taken at short intervals and did not fluctuate significantly, motors would have been triggered too frequently, leading to excessive noise. To mitigate this, I introduced individual delay times for each motor before they could be triggered again. To create a more natural and less predictable sound pattern, I introduced a "random factor". The motor's delay time was then multiplied by this factor which was recalculated with each sensor reading, ensuring a more varied and pleasant auditory experience.

Debugging print commands were added to the code to help monitor sensor functionality when connected to a computer. These were primarily for troubleshooting and not necessary for the final public installation. Although the code could have been optimized for brevity, I chose to keep it more detailed to maintain a clear overview of all sensors, motors, and timing adjustments. In the end, our system successfully produced tones in a random frequency, creating a dynamic and immersive experience.

=== Technology ===

* ESP32
* MQ-2 sensor for combustible gas
* SG90 9g Micro Servo
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Bread board.jpg
File:SG90 9g Micro Servo 2.jpg
File:SG90 9g Micro Servo 3.jpg
File:Mq-2 sensor for combustible gas .jpg
</gallery>

=== Code ===

===== For the platformio.ini: =====
<syntaxhighlight lang="arduino">
[env:esp32dev]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
lib_deps = roboticsbrno/ServoESP32@1.0.3
monitor_speed = 9600

</syntaxhighlight>

===== Fort he main.cpp: =====
<syntaxhighlight lang="arduino">
#include <Arduino.h>
// include the servo library
#include <Servo.h>

// timing
unsigned long currentTime = 0;

unsigned long lastTimeA = 0;
unsigned long lastTimeB = 0;
unsigned long lastTimeC = 0;
unsigned long lastTimeD = 0;
unsigned long lastTimeE = 0;
unsigned long lastTimeF = 0;

const int baseServoDelayTimeA = 17300;
const int baseServoDelayTimeB = 11020;
const int baseServoDelayTimeC = 15400;
const int baseServoDelayTimeD = 12800;
const int baseServoDelayTimeE = 8400;
const int baseServoDelayTimeF = 6300;

float randMultiplier = 1.0;

long randNumber;

//sensors
const float sensorTriggerValueA = 700;
const float sensorTriggerValueB = 520;
const float sensorTriggerValueC = 650;
const float sensorTriggerValueD = 880;
const float sensorTriggerValueE = 950;
const float sensorTriggerValueF = 1100;

float getSensorValuePpm (int sensorPin);

const int sensorA = 36;
const int sensorB = 39;
const int sensorC = 34;
const int sensorD = 35;
const int sensorE = 32;
const int sensorF = 33;

float gasValueSensorA = getSensorValuePpm (sensorA);
float gasValueSensorB = getSensorValuePpm (sensorB);
float gasValueSensorC = getSensorValuePpm (sensorC);
float gasValueSensorD = getSensorValuePpm (sensorD);
float gasValueSensorE = getSensorValuePpm (sensorE);
float gasValueSensorF = getSensorValuePpm (sensorF);

//servos
const int servoPinA = 19;
const int servoPinB = 18;
const int servoPinC = 05;
const int servoPinD = 17;
const int servoPinE = 16;
const int servoPinF = 04;

Servo servoA;
Servo servoB;
Servo servoC;
Servo servoD;
Servo servoE;
Servo servoF;

boolean isLeftA;
boolean isLeftB;
boolean isLeftC;
boolean isLeftD;
boolean isLeftE;
boolean isLeftF;

//function declarations
void playSound(unsigned long &lastTime, int sensorPin, Servo &servo, float &gasValueSensor, boolean &isLeft, int baseServoDelayTime, float sensorTriggerValue);

float getSensorValuePpm (int sensorPin);

void setup() {
analogSetAttenuation(ADC_11db);
Serial.begin(9600);

servoA.attach(servoPinA);
servoA.write(30);
isLeftA = true;

servoB.attach(servoPinB);
servoB.write(30);
isLeftB = true;

servoC.attach(servoPinC);
servoC.write(30);
isLeftC = true;

servoD.attach(servoPinD);
servoD.write(30);
isLeftD = true;

servoE.attach(servoPinE);
servoE.write(30);
isLeftE = true;

servoF.attach(servoPinF);
servoF.write(30);
isLeftF = true;
}

void loop() {
currentTime = millis();

playSound(lastTimeA, sensorA, servoA, gasValueSensorA, isLeftA, baseServoDelayTimeA, sensorTriggerValueA);
playSound(lastTimeB, sensorB, servoB, gasValueSensorB, isLeftB, baseServoDelayTimeB, sensorTriggerValueB);
playSound(lastTimeC, sensorC, servoC, gasValueSensorC, isLeftC, baseServoDelayTimeC, sensorTriggerValueC);
playSound(lastTimeD, sensorD, servoD, gasValueSensorD, isLeftD, baseServoDelayTimeD, sensorTriggerValueD);
playSound(lastTimeE, sensorE, servoE, gasValueSensorE, isLeftE, baseServoDelayTimeE, sensorTriggerValueE);
playSound(lastTimeF, sensorF, servoF, gasValueSensorF, isLeftF, baseServoDelayTimeF, sensorTriggerValueF);
}

//functions

void playSound(unsigned long &lastTime, int sensorPin, Servo &servo, float &gasValueSensor, boolean &isLeft, int baseServoDelayTime, float sensorTriggerValue){

//generate multiplier and adjust delaytime
randMultiplier = 0.7 + (random(0, 341) / 100.0);
int adjustedDelayTime = baseServoDelayTime * randMultiplier;

if (currentTime - lastTime >= adjustedDelayTime){
// check if timing works
Serial.print("Random delayTime");
Serial.println(adjustedDelayTime);
Serial.println("Triggering sensor reaading");
gasValueSensor = getSensorValuePpm(sensorPin);
// check sensor value
Serial.print("Sensor Value: ");
Serial.println(gasValueSensor);

if (gasValueSensor > sensorTriggerValue){
Serial.println("Triggering servo");
// move servo to play sound
if (isLeft == true){
servo.write(0);
isLeft = false;
Serial.println("right");
}
else{
servo.write(30);
isLeft = true;
Serial.println("left");
}
Serial.println("Servo moved. Last Time updated.");
}
// update lastTime
lastTime = currentTime;
}
}

float getSensorValuePpm (int sensorPin) {
float voltage = analogRead(sensorPin) * (5.0 / 1023.0);
float RS_air = 10.0;
float RL = 2.0;
float ratio = RL / RS_air;
float RS = ((5.0 / voltage) - 1.0) * RL;
float ppm = 1000.0 * pow((RS / RS_air), ratio);
return ppm;
}

</syntaxhighlight>(written by Hanna)

==Manual construction ==
[[File:Construction plan for the motor mount.jpg|thumb|340x340px]]
I was responsible for the structural and mechanical implementation of the project since my strengths lie far more in this area than in writing computer code. Additionally, unlike Hanna, I have the necessary resources at home to craft.

We needed a mount that would allow the servo motors to hover above the guitar strings so they could pluck them individually. The servo motors had to be positioned at a certain distance from each other to avoid interfering with one another when striking the strings. We had already identified this issue through a cardboard prototype. Since guitar picks were to be attached to the motors, increasing the radius of the strike, it made sense to always leave two strings between those being played.[[File:Soldering.jpg|thumb|315x315px|left]]

I decided to attach two motors to one bar. The construction sketch can be seen here:

Since I couldn’t guarantee millimeter-precise construction, and factors like the surface, variations in the way the picks were attached, or different motor models could create height differences, it was necessary to allow for fine adjustments to the height of the mount. For this, I used special adjustment screws that allow the height of the mounting beams to be individually adjusted on both sides. Unlike regular screws, these have two types of threads: the upper thread remains fixed in the wood, while the lower thread can be screwed in and out like a standard screw. This enables precise millimeter-level height adjustments to fit the conditions.

Additionally, the sensors had to be connected to the breadboard. To do this, I soldered cables—each consisting of three wires—of sufficient length to each of the six sensors. I then soldered a connector to each wire to facilitate easy attachment to the breadboard.

(written by Fiene)<gallery mode="packed">
File:Prototype mady of cardboard.jpg
File:Workbench.jpg
File:Soldering 2.jpg
File:Sensor with soldered cable.jpg
</gallery>

== The Plants ==
*Hyacinth
*Euphorbia
*Fern
*Begonia
*Peperomia
*Alocasia

=='''Exhibition'''==
[[File:Preparations and setup 4.jpg|left|thumb|375x375px]]

===Concept===
The idea was to place the guitar on a table, with a clothing rack positioned behind it, from which the six plants would hang. These included a hyacinth and an alocasia in bags, a fern and a pepper plant in small greenhouses, as well as a begonia and a moldy euphorbia in screw-top jars.

The cables and the breadboard were intentionally installed with minimal cable management, keeping them clearly visible to emphasize the DIY aesthetic.

The lighting needed to be bright enough to provide sufficient light for the plants without being too harsh. Hanna brought her grow lights, which perfectly illuminated the exhibition niche where our work was displayed.

We chose the niche as our exhibition space because it allowed us to maintain a necessary distance from other sound-based projects. Additionally, this setup ensured that the work could only be viewed from the front, preventing visitors from accidentally bumping into it and disturbing any components.

===Preparations and setup===
Hanna and I met in Weimar on the Saturday before the exhibition to attach the picks to the motors and test the interaction of all components. This allowed us to check the overall functionality of both the code and the construction. Fortunately, everything worked as intended, with only a few minor tasks remaining.
[[File:Preparations and setup 3.jpg|thumb|356x356px]]
Our plan was to hang the plants from a clothing rack. However, since two of the plants were potted in jars, suspending them proved to be a challenge. To solve this, I crafted wooden discs with holes through which we could thread wire, ensuring that the jars could be securely hung. Hanna also made some minor adjustments to our code.

On the Thursday before the exhibition, we finalized our setup. We darkened the window, adjusted the lighting, secured all components to the table to prevent any shifting during the exhibition, connected the sensors and motors, plugged in the power supply, set the timers, and fine-tuned the height of the mounting structure to ensure that each pick could strike its string and produce a pleasant sound.

(written by Fiene)<gallery mode="packed">
File:Preparations and setup 1.jpg
File:Preparations and setup.jpg
File:Preparations and setup 4.jpg
</gallery>

===Winterwerkschau===
The Winterwerkschau was a great success for our project. Contrary to our initial concerns, the adhesive held up perfectly, keeping the picks securely attached to the motors for both days of the exhibition. As a result, all the strings could be continuously played without any issues.

When Hanna and I took our turn overseeing the exhibition, we were met with an incredible amount of interest and enthusiasm. Visitors were fascinated by our work, showering us with questions and curiosity. It was an incredibly rewarding experience that filled us with pride and reinforced our excitement about what we had created.

All the hard work had truly paid off, and seeing our project resonate with others made the effort even more worthwhile.

(written by Fiene)<gallery mode="packed">
File:The Verdant Symphony 1.jpg
File:The Verdant Symphony 2.jpg
File:The Verdant Symphony 3.jpg
File:The Verdant Symphony 4.jpg
File:The Verdant Symphony 5.jpg
File:The Verdant Symphony 6.jpg
File:Hanna and Fiene next to their work.jpg
</gallery>

Hanna Bremerich

2024-11-14T13:04:42Z

Hanna Bremerich: Created page with "Project by Hanna Bremerich"

Project by Hanna Bremerich

GMU:The Plant Plant

2024-11-14T13:03:50Z

Hanna Bremerich:

[[:Category:Fachmodul|Werk/Fachmodul]]

''Lecturer:'' [[Christian Doeller]], Klaus Fritze

''Credits:'' 6 [[ECTS]], 4 [[SWS]]

''Times:'' Thursday 13:30 - 17:00

''Venue:'' DIY Electronics Lab (B15 / K07), DIY BioLab (M5 / 202)

''First meeting:'' October 24, 13:30 @ Marienstraße 5, Room 204

[[File:Collage-plantplant.jpg|frameless|1073x1073px]]

Description:

How do plants perceive their environment, how do plants and environments interact? How can we turn these processes into an immersive experience, to what extent can our concepts and technologies do justice to the plant world?

In the agricultural industry, the combination of plant breeding and cybernetics is aimed at optimizing crops. Machine learning and robotics are used to achieve higher yields, disease resistance and climate adaptation.

In the seminar ‘The Plant Plant’, we invite you to put aside any productivity factors and hand over control to the plants. With the help of DIY sensors and microcontrollers, we attempt to measure interactions between plants and their environment and transform the collected real-time data into a dynamic spatial atmosphere. We draw inspiration from cybernetic control systems and provoke various types of feedback between plants, the environment and humans. In the process, we take a critical look at upcoming relationships and effects. Our aim is to collectively develop a speculative sensing space - a human-scale environment whose atmospheric parameters such as light, temperature and air circulation are regulated by our ‘green control center’.

This is a hands-on seminar. It includes three workshops in which we grow plants under different conditions, learn the basics of DIY electronics / sensor technologies and program control systems with Arduino / ESP32 microcontrollers, motor-driven devices and light sources. Furthermore, we discuss corresponding examples of artistic research in the context of media art.

Requirements for participation: Interest in exploring plant environments, enthusiasm for tinkering and experimenting with DIY electronics, commitment to group work and passion for creating speculative spaces of experience. No prior knowledge is necessary, participants need their own computer / laptop.

Please send your registration by Sunday (20 October) via e-mail, subject ‘The Plant Plant’, with a short letter of motivation (3-4 sentences) to christian.doeller@uni-weimar.de.

Participants:
*
* [[Hanna Bremerich]]

Schedule:

'''October 24, 13:30, M5 Room 204'''

* first meeting

'''October 31 - free'''

'''November 1 - November 2, 10:00 - 16:00'''

* Two-day workshop @ DIY Electronics Lab (B15, basement) / DIY Biolab (M5, Room 201)

'''November 7, 13:30 - 17:00, DIY Electronics Lab'''

* discuss workshop results
* form working groups
* first brainstorm in groups
* networking & data exchange

Topics:
*Growth of plants under different conditions
*Hermetospheres / bottle gardens
*DIY Electronics: Basic Sensors
*DIY Electronics: Basic Actuators
*DIY Electronics: Microcontrollers (Arduino / ESP) and cybernetic control systems
*The basics of cybernetics, recursion, feedback
*Immersive "sensing spaces"

Technology:
* [https://github.com/diyElectronicsLab/ThePlantPlant The Plant Plant - GitHub Repo]

Artists:
*Philippe Parreno
*Ursula Damm
*Marco Barotti
*Cornelia Sollfrank
*Katja Tillbörger
*Robertina Šebjanič
*Agnes Meyer-Brandis
*Hicham Berrada
*Ingo Vetter, Annette Weisser
*Mel Chin
*...

Literature:
*Donella Meadows''':''' ''Thinking in Systems. A Primer''
*Ludwig von Bertalaffny: ''General Systems Theory''
*Jagadish Chandra Bose Die Pflanzen Schrift und ihre Offenbarungen. https://books.google.de/books/about/Die_Pflanzen_Schrift_und_ihre_Offenbarun.html?id=n5sYAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y
*Gustav Theodor Fechner: Nanna: On the Mental Life of Plants https://www.amazon.de/Nanna-%C3%9Cber-das-Seelenleben-Pflanzen/dp/3843014280
*Peter Tompkins/Christopher Bird: The Secret Life of Plants https://www.amazon.de/Secret-Life-Plants-Fascinating-Emotional/dp/0060915870
*Floriane Koechlin: Plants whispers- A journey through new realms of science https://lenos.ch/buecher/plant-whispers/isbn:978-3-85787-939-5<nowiki/>Plants - sensing movement: https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/187/3/1131/6359831
*Charles Darwin: '''The Power of Movements in plants''' (publ.1880) https://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Freeman_ThePowerofMovementinPlants.html
*Emanuelle Coccia: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/emanuele-coccia-die-wurzeln-der-welt-pflanzen-atmen-aus-was-100.html
*Lynn Margulis: '''Symbiotic Planet:''' A New Look At Evolution (1999) https://www.amazon.de/Symbiotic-Planet-New-Look-Evolution/dp/0465072720<nowiki/>Movie: Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis rocked the boat and started a scientific revolution https://mubi.com/de/de/films/symbiotic-earth-how-lynn-margulis-rocked-the-boat-and-started-a-scientific-revolution

*...

Language & skill level:
*The module will be held in English, unless all participants are speaking German.
*No prior knowledge is required.

Criteria for passing:
*be on time, attend the classes, be active
*develop a prototype for The Plant Plant
*document your work on the wiki page

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:07:20Z

Hanna Bremerich:

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>

'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

'''<big>"Fusion" - Creating Art(ist) with slime mold (Project by Hanna Bremerich, Bauhaus Universität Weimar)</big>'''

With this project I planned on permanently fusing the artwork and the artist together so that they are completely inseparable. Usually the answer to the question of how much of a connection there is between an artist and their work isn't a trivial one. There is no doubt that because of the intention and the process of creating the artwork there is always "a part" of the artist themselves integrated in the painting but mostly it's not always a physical connection and that is exactly what I wanted to achieve: An artwork that is the artist themselves at the same time.

[[File:Sketch Physarum.jpg|thumb|271x271px|Sketch]]

* To start the project I studied the movement of the slime mold during our course "Growing microorganisms for bioart projects" so that I could create a drawing which the slime mold theoretically could create in a similar way.

[[File:Fusion1.jpg|thumb|270x270px|Day 1]]

* I prepared plastic dishes with an agar-agar-medium in the dimensions of a A4-sheet
* I placed the oat flakes with Physarum on them in the spots of bigger "blobs" and the food on the spots with that represented the individual flakes

* I checked on the slime mold every day and kept placing new oat flakes onto the same spots every day so that the slime mold would hopefully not move away from the spots resembled in the drawing and would create something similar
* After 14 days I ended the project
* The slime mold created multiple versions that were similar to the drawing, however day 11-14 were the closest

<gallery>
File:Fusion2.jpg|Day 2
File:Fusion3.jpg|Day 3
File:Fusion4.jpg|Day 4
File:Fusion5.jpg|Day 5
File:Fusion6.jpg|Day 6
File:Fusion7.jpg|Day 7
File:Fusion8.jpg|Day 8
File:Fusion9.jpg|Day 9
File:Fusion10.jpg|Day 10
File:Fusion11.jpg|Day 11
File:Fusion12.jpg|Day 12
File:Fusion13.jpg|Day 13
File:Fusion14.jpg|Day 14
</gallery>

//Doku by Hanna Bremerich

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:06:56Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:06:26Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:06:02Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:05:40Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:04:55Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:04:04Z

Hanna Bremerich:

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>

'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

'''<big>"Fusion" - Creating Art(ist) with slime mold (Project by Hanna Bremerich, Bauhaus Universität Weimar)</big>'''

With this project I planned on permanently fusing the artwork and the artist together so that they are completely inseparable. Usually the answer to the question of how much of a connection there is between an artist and their work isn't a trivial one. There is no doubt that because of the intention and the process of creating the artwork there is always "a part" of the artist themselves integrated in the painting but mostly it's not always a physical connection and that is exactly what I wanted to achieve: An artwork that is the artist themselves at the same time.

[[File:Sketch Physarum.jpg|thumb|271x271px|Sketch]]

* To start the project I studied the movement of the slime mold during our course "Growing microorganisms for bioart projects" so that I could create a drawing which the slime mold theoretically could create in a similar way.

[[File:Fusion1.jpg|thumb|270x270px|Day 1]]
* I prepared plastic dishes with an agar-agar-medium in the dimensions of a A4-sheet
* I placed the oat flakes with Physarum on them in the spots of bigger "blobs" and the food on the spots with that represented the individual flakes

* I checked on the slime mold every day and kept placing new oat flakes onto the same spots every day so that the slime mold would hopefully not move away from the spots resembled in the drawing and would create something similar
* After 14 days I ended the project
* The slime mold created multiple versions that were similar to the drawing, however day 11-14 were the closest
<gallery>
File:Fusion2.jpg|Day 2
File:Fusion3.jpg|Day 3
File:Fusion4.jpg|Day 4
File:Fusion5.jpg|Day 5
File:Fusion6.jpg|Day 6
File:Fusion7.jpg|Day 7
File:Fusion8.jpg|Day 8
File:Fusion9.jpg|Day 9
File:Fusion10.jpg|Day 10
File:Fusion11.jpg|Day 11
File:Fusion12.jpg|Day 12
File:Fusion13.jpg|Day 13
File:Fusion14.jpg|Day 14
</gallery>

//Doku by Hanna Bremerich

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:02:51Z

Hanna Bremerich: Format

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>

'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

'''<big>"Fusion" - Creating Art(ist) with slime mold (Project by Hanna Bremerich, Bauhaus Universität Weimar)</big>'''

With this project I planned on permanently fusing the artwork and the artist together so that they are completely inseparable. Usually the answer to the question of how much of a connection there is between an artist and their work isn't a trivial one. There is no doubt that because of the intention and the process of creating the artwork there is always "a part" of the artist themselves integrated in the painting but mostly it's not always a physical connection and that is exactly what I wanted to achieve: An artwork that is the artist themselves at the same time.
[[File:Sketch Physarum.jpg|thumb|271x271px|Sketch]]

* To start the project I studied the movement of the slime mold during our course "Growing microorganisms for bioart projects" so that I could create a drawing which the slime mold theoretically could create in a similar way. [[File:Fusion1.jpg|thumb|270x270px|Day 1]]
* I prepared plastic dishes with an agar-agar-medium in the dimensions of a A4-sheet
* I placed the oat flakes with Physarum on them in the spots of bigger "blobs" and the food on the spots with that represented the individual flakes
* I checked on the slime mold every day and kept placing new oat flakes onto the same spots every day so that the slime mold would hopefully not move away from the spots resembled in the drawing and would create something similar
* After 14 days I ended the project
* The slime mold created multiple versions that were similar to the drawing, however day 11-14 were the closest
<gallery>
File:Fusion2.jpg|Day 2
File:Fusion3.jpg|Day 3
File:Fusion4.jpg|Day 4
File:Fusion5.jpg|Day 5
File:Fusion6.jpg|Day 6
File:Fusion7.jpg|Day 7
File:Fusion8.jpg|Day 8
File:Fusion9.jpg|Day 9
File:Fusion10.jpg|Day 10
File:Fusion11.jpg|Day 11
File:Fusion12.jpg|Day 12
File:Fusion13.jpg|Day 13
File:Fusion14.jpg|Day 14
</gallery>

//Doku by Hanna Bremerich

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T03:01:54Z

Hanna Bremerich: Images

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>

'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

'''<big>"Fusion" - Creating Art(ist) with slime mold (Project by Hanna Bremerich, Bauhaus Universität Weimar)</big>'''

With this project I planned on permanently fusing the artwork and the artist together so that they are completely inseparable. Usually the answer to the question of how much of a connection there is between an artist and their work isn't a trivial one. There is no doubt that because of the intention and the process of creating the artwork there is always "a part" of the artist themselves integrated in the painting but mostly it's not always a physical connection and that is exactly what I wanted to achieve: An artwork that is the artist themselves at the same time.
[[File:Sketch Physarum.jpg|thumb|271x271px|Sketch]]

* To start the project I studied the movement of the slime mold during our course "Growing microorganisms for bioart projects" so that I could create a drawing which the slime mold theoretically could create in a similar way. [[File:Fusion1.jpg|thumb|270x270px|Day 1]]
* I prepared plastic dishes with an agar-agar-medium in the dimensions of a A4-sheet
* I placed the oat flakes with Physarum on them in the spots of bigger "blobs" and the food on the spots with that represented the individual flakes
* I checked on the slime mold every day and kept placing new oat flakes onto the same spots every day so that the slime mold would hopefully not move away from the spots resembled in the drawing and would create something similar
* After 14 days I ended the project
* The slime mold created multiple versions that were similar to the drawing, however day 11-14 were the closest
<gallery>
File:Fusion2.jpg|Day 2
File:Fusion3.jpg|Day 3
File:Fusion4.jpg|Day 4
File:Fusion5.jpg|Day 5
File:Fusion6.jpg|Day 6
File:Fusion7.jpg|Day 7
File:Fusion8.jpg|Day 8
File:Fusion9.jpg|Day 9
File:Fusion10.jpg|Day 10
File:Fusion11.jpg|Day 11
File:Fusion12.jpg|Day 12
File:Fusion13.jpg|Day 13
File:Fusion14.jpg|Day 14
</gallery>

//Doku by Hanna Bremerich

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T02:54:47Z

Hanna Bremerich: text

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

'''<big>Recreating art with slime mold (Project by Hanna Bremerich, Bauhaus Universität Weimar)</big>'''

With this project I planned on permanently fusing the artwork and the artist together so that they are completely inseparable. Usually the answer to the question of how much of a connection there is between an artist and their work isn't a trivial one. There is no doubt that because of the intention and the process of creating the artwork there is always "a part" of the artist themselves integrated in the painting but mostly it's not always a physical connection and that is exactly what I wanted to achieve: An artwork that is the artist themselves at the same time.
[[File:Sketch Physarum.jpg|thumb|271x271px|Sketch]]

* To start the project I studied the movement of the slime mold during our course "Growing microorganisms for bioart projects" so that I could create a drawing which the slime mold theoretically could create in a similar way. [[File:Fusion1.jpg|thumb|270x270px|Day 1]]
* I prepared plastic dishes with an agar-agar-medium in the dimensions of a A4-sheet
* I placed the oat flakes with Physarum on them in the spots of bigger "blobs" and the food on the spots with that represented the individual flakes
* I checked on the slime mold every day and kept placing new oat flakes onto the same spots every day so that the slime mold would hopefully not move away from the spots resembled in the drawing and would create something similar

File:Fusion14.jpg

2024-08-26T02:54:30Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion13.jpg

2024-08-26T02:54:05Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion12.jpg

2024-08-26T02:53:43Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion11.jpg

2024-08-26T02:53:15Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion10.jpg

2024-08-26T02:52:51Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion9.jpg

2024-08-26T02:51:59Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion8.jpg

2024-08-26T02:51:32Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion7.jpg

2024-08-26T02:51:03Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion6.jpg

2024-08-26T02:50:40Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion5.jpg

2024-08-26T02:50:16Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion4.jpg

2024-08-26T02:49:53Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion3.jpg

2024-08-26T02:49:29Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion2.jpg

2024-08-26T02:49:04Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Fusion1.jpg

2024-08-26T02:43:35Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Sketch Physarum.jpg

2024-08-26T02:38:38Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Sketch for slime mold

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T02:25:04Z

Hanna Bremerich: Text

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

'''<big>Recreating art with slime mold (Project by Hanna Bremerich, Bauhaus Universität Weimar)</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T02:16:59Z

Hanna Bremerich:

'''<big>Species</big>'''

Physarum Policephalum is an eucaryotic organism which belongs to the class of Myxogastria. It passes a life cycle of morphologic phases, with the phase in which the multinucleate cells form a plasmodium (thin film, with visible branches) often being used for study purposes. This slime mold can be found in cool, humid, darker places, for example on rotten wood in the forest.

<gallery>
File:Physarum on wood.jpg|Physarum on wood
File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg|diagram of life cycle
</gallery>Images taken from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/strange-yellow-slime-mold-can-remember-where-it-left-food-study-says-1.5326525

https://knowledge.carolina.com/discipline/life-science/biology/the-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum/

'''<big>Growing of Physarum</big>'''

To be able to use the plasmodium for projects or study purposes, bigger cultures of Physarum have to be grown.

'''<big>Step 1: Preparing petri dishes:</big>'''

Materials: Petri dishes, Erlenmeyer flask/pot, distilled water/tap water, powdered agar, scale, spoon, aluminium foil

The easiest gel to make is agar-agar-medium at a ratio of 1 to 100:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Component
!Quantity
!Custom Quantity
|-
|water
|100 ml
|x
|-
|agar agar
|1 g
|x
|}

* Fill the needed amount of water either into a pot or the Erlenmeyer flask
* Weigh the needed amount of powdered agar (e.g. by using some aluminium foil as a dish)
* Stir the agar into the water
* Stir and heat the mixture until it's boiling (by using the stovetop or microwave) and take it off the heat before it boils over
* Pour the mixture into the petri dishes until they are max. halfway full, close the lids and let them cool down until the medium has solidified

'''<big>Step 2: Preparing food for the slime mold</big>'''

Since Physarum is capable of ingesting material by phagocytosis, it needs "food" to grow, if it's starved, it will escape.

A supply of oat flakes can be used as a source of food.

Newly bought oat flakes can be put into a sealed container (e.g. a glass bottle or a mason jar), but if you want to try to prevent future contamination as much as possible, the oat flakes can be sterilized:

Materials: Glass jars with lids, cotton wadding, aluminium foil, water, pressure cooker

* Prepare a jar with a lid by putting a hole into the lid and insert some cotton wadding tightly into the hole (the hole in the lid is very important, otherwise the jar might burst inside the pressure cooker)
* Fill some oat flakes into the jars, close the lid and put aluminium foil over the lid to prevent contamination later on (cover the lid completely)
* Pour enough water into the pressure cooker, but not so much that the glasses are floating (follow manual for guidance), place the glasses inside
* Close and lock the lid and wait until the needed temperature and pressure point are reached (121°C, 15 PSI)
* Reduce the at minimum heat at which it is possible for the water to keep boiling
* From that point on, wait about 50 minutes and ensure that the pressure of 15 PSI is kept throughout this time
* After that wait for the cooker to cool down on it's own and only then release the pressure to prevent it from boiling over
* Take out the jars, let them cool down and only open them under a flow hood with gloves and disinfected hands

'''<big>Step 3: Starting a new culture</big>'''

Materials: gloves, tweezers, bunsen burner, paper towels, 70%-alcohol, petri dish with agar-medium, oat flakes

* (put on the flow hood and disinfect the surface you are working on with alcohol, however the '''flow hood is''' '''not''' '''absolutely necessary''' )
* put on gloves
* spray a paper towel with alcohol and clean the tweezers, then hold them over the flame of the burner (doesn't have to be long) (and put them into the flow hood)
* disinfect your hands with alcohol before working with the slime mold

'''There are two ways for starting a new culture of Physarum'''

# Using a part of an already existing culture:
#* From the existing culture take an oat flake (or multiple) with slime mold on it with the tweezers and place them in the middle of the new petri dish
#* Place oat flakes as food in the petri dish around the flake with the mold
#* To prevent future contamination the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
# Preserved Physarum comes dried on a filter paper inside a sealed bag
#* Place the paper in the middle of the petri dish and put drops of water on the paper to reactivate the slime mold
#* Place oat flakes around the paper
#* Optionally the petri dish can be sealed with Parafilm
<gallery>
File:Physarum1.jpg|Physarum day 1
File:Physarum preserved.jpg|Physarum preserved
File:Physarum preserved2.jpg|Physarum preserved day 1
</gallery>'''<big>Step 4: Taking care of Physarum</big>'''

To keep the slime mold from escaping it has to be fed regularly. How often and in what way it has to be fed depends on the purpose of the culture. It is possible to do this under the flow hood in an attempt to keep things sterile, however it is also possible to do it on the usual work space (disinfect first and still keep hands and tweezers clean)

* In the beginning feed Physarum every two days by using the tweezers to drop a couple of oat flakes into the petri dish until the dish is completely covered with Plasmodium

[[File:Ph. Day 3.jpg|center|thumb|283x283px|Day 3]]

* After the culture has reached this stage, just throw the oat flakes on top of it
* Since the slime mold grows quickly it may need food every day at some point
* It is possible to keep making new cultures from this one by repeating the previous steps
<gallery>
File:Day 4.jpg|Day 4
File:Day 6.jpg|Day 6
File:Day 7.jpg|Day 7
File:Day 8.jpg|Day 8
File:Day 9..jpg|Day 9
</gallery>

'''<big>Projects with Physarum Policephalum</big>'''

'''<big>Improving Tokyo's rail system (by Atsushi Tero from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)</big>'''

While looking for food to continue growing the slime mold detects the food from afar and expands various brands in it's direction. When it has reached the food sources it only keeps the branches with the most efficient way of transporting the nutrients.

Japanese scientists from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo used this characteristic to try and find room for improvement in Tokyo's rail system.

They placed oat flakes in a wet dish resembling the locations of different major cities in the Tokyo area. Since the slime mold prefers dark places, it was possible for Tero to use bright light as mountains and lakes so that the slime mold would avoid these spots while growing towards the oat flakes.

In the end the slime mold created a network which was very similar to the actual rail system.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/slime-mould-attacks-simulates-tokyo-rail-network

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T01:57:00Z

Hanna Bremerich: images

File:Day 9..jpg

2024-08-26T01:52:09Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Ph. day 9

File:Day 8.jpg

2024-08-26T01:51:16Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Ph. day 8

File:Day 7.jpg

2024-08-26T01:50:51Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Ph. day 7

File:Day 6.jpg

2024-08-26T01:50:23Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Ph. day 6

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T01:49:49Z

Hanna Bremerich:

File:Day 4.jpg

2024-08-26T01:49:25Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Ph. day 4

File:Ph. Day 3.jpg

2024-08-26T01:41:26Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Phy. day 3

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T01:39:58Z

Hanna Bremerich: text

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T01:23:12Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T01:22:06Z

Hanna Bremerich: Images

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T01:20:49Z

Hanna Bremerich: text

File:Physarum preserved2.jpg

2024-08-26T01:19:35Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Ph. preserved

File:Physarum preserved.jpg

2024-08-26T01:18:39Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum preserved

File:Physarum1.jpg

2024-08-26T01:10:12Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Physarum1

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T00:47:17Z

Hanna Bremerich: Text

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-26T00:15:36Z

Hanna Bremerich: text

Physarum Policephalum (slime mold)

2024-08-25T23:47:07Z

Hanna Bremerich: Steps

File:Physarum-Life-Cycle.jpg

2024-08-25T23:04:52Z

Hanna Bremerich:

Life cycle of physarum

File:Physarum on wood.jpg

2024-08-25T23:03:23Z

Hanna Bremerich:

slime mold growing on wood