DR JUL. - 12

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, while some turned to baking or the companionship of dogs, I found myself immersed in the meticulous world of slime mould cultivation. The study in my partner’s flat in Edinburgh became a makeshift laboratory for two cultures of Physarum polycephalum, an acellular slime mould colloquially dubbed ‘the blob’. What began as idle curiosity rapidly evolved into a sequence of rudimentary experiments designed to observe whether bisected masses from a single Physarum cell would continue to fuse upon reintroduction. Days lengthened into weeks, and the experiment gradually lost momentum after approximately six weeks due to temporal limitations. Yet, this marked merely the inception of my fascination. In the ensuing year, under the noses of unsuspecting neighbours, I conducted several more trials. Though unpublished, each endeavour raised foundational philosophical inquiries—many of which still reverberate through my thought. A core question persisted: what, if anything, could the behaviour of slime mould reveal about the nature and mechanics of biological memory?

Despite its glaring differences from humans, P. polycephalum offers provocative insight into the distributed nature of cognition and remembrance. While conventional wisdom situates memory firmly within neural architecture, some philosophers—including myself—contend that memory can be extended, operating not merely within the brain but in dynamic coupling with environmental structures. Certain cognitive processes, rather than being solely intracranial, appear to loop into the organism’s immediate surroundings. The slime mould becomes an exquisite subject through which to interrogate this claim, as it operates devoid of any nervous system, yet appears capable of rudimentary memory and learning. Notably, in specific contexts, information acquired by one organism can be transferred to another via mere physical contact—a behaviour challenging traditional paradigms of internalised learning and suggesting that our assumptions regarding memory acquisition may merit re-evaluation.

Belonging to the Myxomycetes class, Physarum is distinguished from cellular slime moulds by its structure: instead of aggregating from individual micro-amoebae, it exists as a massive, multinucleate cell. Its life cycle oscillates between a microscopic amoeboflagellate stage, arising post-spore germination, and the macroscopic plasmodial stage—a bright yellow, veiny expanse reminiscent of a vivid, living paint spill. This stage garners the majority of scientific attention due to both its substantial scale—spanning up to 2 square metres—and its surprising locomotion, propelling itself at rates up to 5 cm per hour. It navigates surfaces through oscillatory contractions of internal tubules, redistributing its protoplasm to form cauliflower-like protrusions that extend across terrain. In its natural milieu—forests teeming with decaying vegetation—P. polycephalum thrives in moist leaf litter, consuming microorganisms while avoiding desiccating conditions and direct sunlight.

Historically misclassified as a fungus due to its spore-producing fruiting bodies, P. polycephalum earned its name—polycephalum, meaning ‘many-headed’—from the appearance of its multiple sporangia. Only in the latter 20th century, with advancements in molecular phylogenetics, was its taxonomic misplacement rectified; it was reclassified within Amoebozoa, aligning it more closely with amoebae than fungi.

After a research decline in the late 20th century, interest was reignited by Toshiyuki Nakagaki’s 2000 experiment, in which Physarum demonstrated the ability to navigate a maze by optimising its tubular network, ultimately retracting inefficient paths in favour of the most direct route. Published in Nature, this landmark study catalysed a global resurgence in Physarum research. Contemporary studies by Audrey Dussutour, Tanya Latty, Madeleine Beekman, and Chris Reid further highlighted its capacities for adaptive decision-making, maze-solving, and habituation—a foundational form of learning. Once relegated to obscurity, P. polycephalum has re-emerged as an emblem of non-neuronal intelligence, unsettling established divisions between cognition, memory, and morphology.

Glossary of Difficult Words:

  • Acellular: Not consisting of, divided into, or containing cells.

  • Plasmodial: Referring to the multinucleate stage of slime mould where it behaves as a giant amoeba.

  • Protoplasm: The living content of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane.

  • Habituation: A form of learning in which an organism decreases or ceases its responses to a repetitive stimulus.

  • Phylogenetics: The study of evolutionary relationships among biological species based on genetic data.

  • Desiccating: Drying out or removing moisture.

  • Colloquially: In informal or conversational language.

  • Taxonomic: Pertaining to classification, especially of organisms.

  • Intracranial: Within the skull or brain.

  • Sporangia: Structures where spores are formed.

  • Oscillatory: Characterized by back-and-forth movement, like a pendulum.

  • Coupling: The interaction or linkage between two systems.

Word Count: 597
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 17.

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