Slime moulds are well studied organisms in biology. They are some of the simplest organisms that exhibit complex emergent behaviour. Although individual organisms interact with the environment only by following local rules, slime moulds produce a collective behaviour on a global scale. The modelling of slime mould patterns provides a good testbed for studying emergent behaviour. We have simulat...

Plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a single cell visible by unaided eye. On a non-nutrient substrate the plasmodium propagates as a traveling localization, as a compact wave-fragment of protoplasm. The plasmodium-localization travels in its originally predetermined direction for a substantial period of time even when no gradient of chemo-attractants is present. We utilize this property of P...

Lateral Inhibition (LI) phenomena occur in a wide range of neural sensory modalities, but are most famously described in the visual system of humans and other animals. The general mechanism can be summarised as when a stimulated neuron is itself excited and also suppresses the activity of its local neighbours via inhibitory connections. The effect is to generate an increase in contrast between ...

A dynamic self-organized morphology is the hallmark of network-shaped organisms like slime moulds and fungi. Organisms continuously re-organize their flexible, undifferentiated body plans to forage for food. Among these organisms the slime mould P. polycephalum has emerged as a model to investigate how organism can self-organize their extensive networks and act as a coordinated whole. Cytoplasm...

1. A simple axenic medium suitable for the growth of the myxamoebae of a strain of the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum is described. 2. Procedures suitable for the growth of this strain in liquid and on solid media are described. 3. Conditions suitable for initiating the cell differentiation of myxamoebae grown axenically are described.

In laboratory experiments we demonstrate that protoplasmic tubes of acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum show current versus voltage profiles consistent with memristive systems. This result complements previous findings on memristive properties of other living systems (human skin and blood and leaves) and contributes to development of self-growing bioelectronic circuits.