The Insane Biology of: Slime Mold

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Credits:
Narrator: Stephanie Sammann
Writer: Ashleen Knutsen
Editor: Leany Muñoz
Illustrator: Jacek Ambrożewski

Imagery courtesy of Getty Images

REFERENCES:

[benmcreynolds]

I love this so much. This is basically a biological analog computer. It utilizes it's senses and boils things down to a {Yes or a No}. So they are surprisingly good at what they need to do.

[philip_waldman]

Very minor correction at 13:00: TSP doesn't just take exponential time, it is factorial time. Which grows even faster than exponential.

[Slayceos]

And everybody keeps wondering how artificial intelligence is going to take over when it doesn't actually have a brain. It doesn't need a brain it's going to use slime molds all hail the slime mold Overlord

[locdawg]

Japan used slime molds to redo their transportation system in Tokyo which was an amazing feat. Saw it first hand and these slime molds are so intelligent that they find the fastest route to and from connected locations even if it's just for experimentation purposes.

[AreUmygrandson]

I remember hearing about slime mold as a child and always wanted to know more. I had behavioral issues though so not many teachers would answer my questions

[Jasmime_jazzy]

personally, I LOVE this video it teaches me so much I am currently homeschooled and I'm 12 and my mom asked me what kind of project I wanted to do and I picked mold fungi ECT There was so much I didn't know and now I think this type of stuff is fun. Please keep making videos like this I'm sure people would love them!😁😁

[benmcreynolds]

Now I have this image in my head: Where the higher up workers for UPS show up for their shift. They go over the daily slime mold array before sending out their instructions to their delivery driver's lol 😆
Man I really hope someone makes a skit similar to this.
If done right, the sarcasm & science is there for a really clever skit.

[desmond-hawkins]

(13:00) Slime mold doesn't magically compute solutions in linear time while computers do it in exponential time. The very high cost of algorithms used to solve problems like the Traveling Salesman is only to find the absolute best path, the most optimal. Slime mold can probably find amazing solutions, but it's not trying to find the best since the cost of doing that would require a huge amount of time and energy. Just like slime mold, computer scientists have devised algorithms to find great approximations of the optimal solutions to these hard problems (called NP-hard). Some are in fact much more efficient than slime mold's "linear time" approach, with O(log(N)) for simulated annealing for example – a classic approach to the Traveling Salesman.

[Charlie-Em]

The more I observe nature the more I realize intelligence is not brain dependent.

[daniell]

I love the idea of a biological computer chip. Biomechanical constructs have been a staple of speculative fiction for a long time, and I can't help but see this slime mold chip as something of a first step in that direction. To use a gaming term, it is like we are discovering a brand new tech tree. I have no idea how feasible this technology will be in the face of our incoming AI overlords, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

[andrewreynolds]

The way this slime works is nuts and amazing and so sci fi! Well done!

[GameTobenetois]

The idea of slime molds solving the complex exponecial tasks lineraly, really reminds one of quantom computing
It brings to the front the idea that organisms are natural quantom computers capable of compound computation, even on the smallest of scales (the whole idea of microtubuli)
If that's the case, than computer parts using slime molds are essencially the most efficient quantom computers that humanity has made so far

[miketacos]

This is crazy, but also a good explanation of how AI could be intelligent without being conscious.

[terezaslancikova]

OMG i'm so happy and thanful you did this, i learned about these last semester in my plants phylogenetic class and i wanted to know more, but i wasn't able to find any good articles or videos about it and I wanted to know EVERYTHING! the slime mold is so mindblowing to me.. thank you thank you

[robinbeavan]

I have slime mould on my lawn feeding on grass cuttings. I noticed it a few years ago in autumn. At first I thought it was cat sick but under closer examination it had a form and grew slowly also spreading then disappearing when it gets colder. I look out for it now as I quite like it.

[thelittlehooer]

Using slime moulds in the Toyko rail network reminds me of the giant model of the San Francisco bay used to demonstrate the location and strength of currents in the real bay. It was in the Alcatraz escape episode of Mythbusters, I think. A purely analogue simulation of something too complex to simulate digitally.

[GeoffryGifari]

the CG in the venom movies got to be at least partially inspired by these things

[Akash.Chopra]

You have taught me so much through this channel. Thank you for all your hard work!

[robert]

This channel consistent blows my mind. Every video is engaging and brilliantly made.

[oak]

Maybe I should start growing mold on my computer to make it more efficient 😂