GMU:Diy biolab drivers license SoSe26/Daria Lukianchuk: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:12, 11 May 2026

Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients

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?

That's exactly how I started my experiments. For that I needed:

slime mold
petri dishes
oat flakes
agar
food coloring
camera

My final goal is to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It will be very clear to see how slime mold changed colors.

First experiment (08.05)

During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically.

First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== Colored Slime mold ==
+== Slime Mold and Colored Nutrients ==
-[[File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|thumb]]
+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?
-[[File:Taking part of the Mother Culture.jpg|thumb]]
-[[File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future.jpg|thumb]]
+That's exactly how I started my experiments. For that I needed:
-[[File:Adapter and Memory card.jpg|thumb]]
-[[File:Feeding Mother Culture for the future (top view).jpg|thumb]]
+* slime mold
-[[File:Food paint description (contains sugar).jpg|thumb]]
+* petri dishes
-[[File:Food paint .jpg|thumb]]
+* oat flakes
-[[File:Camera stand set-up.jpg|thumb]]
+* agar
-[[File:Mother culture in the beginning.jpg|thumb]]
+* food coloring
-[[File:Mother culture started growing.jpg|thumb]]
+* camera
-[[File:Preparing for measurement.jpg|thumb]]
-[[File:Heating agar.jpg|thumb]]
+My final goal is to film the process of growing with camera. With the video/timelapse It will be very clear to see how slime mold changed colors.
-[[File:Sterile Petri dishes.jpg|thumb]]
-[[File:Placing everything in Petri dish.jpg|thumb]]
+== First experiment (08.05) ==
-[[File:Filling up Petri dishes with agar.jpg|thumb]]
+During the first try it was important for me to understand my workflow in the lab and already test my idea practically.
-[[File:Mixed agar and water are ready for heating.jpg|thumb]]
+[[File:Agar agar recipe.jpg|left|thumb|268x268px]]
-[[File:Sketches slime mold.jpg|thumb|[[File:Mold in the mother culture after three days.jpg|thumb|[[File:First try after three days.jpg|thumb|[[File:First try after three days (close-up).jpg|thumb|[[File:Coloring oat flakes.jpg|thumb|[[File:Preparing agar again.jpg|thumb|[[File:Prepared second try.jpg|thumb]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
+First of all medium for slime mold had to be prapared.
-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.