A Conversation for Slime Moulds - Puzzle-solving Organisms

Peer Review: A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 1

SashaQ - happysad

Entry: Slime Moulds - A87967822
Author: SashaQ - happysad and 'slightly mad' - U9936370

Slime is a popular toy for children these days, but here is an Entry about a type found in nature!


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 2

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Very interesting. smiley - smiley

At university, our freshman biology professor had us create our own taxonomy for the plants and animals we observed in the laboratory sessions. I put the slime moulds under 'animals' because of their locomotion. I think he was amused. He was a plant physiologist.

Philip K Dick's novel 'Clans of the Alphane Moon' features a character named Lord Running Clam - a sentient Ganymedean slime mould with telepathic powers. smiley - frog


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 3

SashaQ - happysad

Thanks DG!

I hope you didn't lose credit for amusing the biology professor. I didn't study slime moulds in the lab, as we focused on insects, but I do see the scrambled egg slime occasionally in local parks.

"a sentient Ganymedean slime mould with telepathic powers" - I can imagine such a thing after having watched the videos of slime moulds smiley - yikes

smiley - ok


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 4

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl No, the prof was a gem with a sense of humour. He'd worked in Southern California, where, as he told us during his office hour chats, he had been plagued by filmmakers. You see, it was the fashion then to make 'science fiction' movies by blowing up ordinary insects and plants and trying to make them scary...

He said they wouldn't believe him that lichens wouldn't make good movie monsters until they spent about three days with his collection, trying...

You have to hand it to Philip K Dick, though.

Anyway, cool entry as is. smiley - smiley


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 5

SashaQ - happysad

That's good - I once lost credit when a teacher asked us to design an experiment but didn't mention that we could imagine doing the experiment in an industrial laboratory so we didn't have to squeeze everything into a test tube...

smiley - laugh Yes, I like lichen, but it's more suited to books than film indeed!


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 6

SashaQ - happysad

bob commented over here F22163774?thread=8323747 so I updated the Entry accordingly smiley - ok


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 7

Gnomon - time to move on

I saw an interesting article recently which said that slime moulds can solve mazes although they are not intelligent. It might be worth looking into this and seeing if it is suitable for including in the entry.


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 8

SashaQ - happysad

Ah, yes - I have seen that. I agree it would be good to add something about how they respond to their environment and can find the shortest routes between two food sources - I will look into that smiley - ok


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 9

SashaQ - happysad

I have updated the Entry quite a bit, so I added some headers too smiley - ok


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 10

SashaQ - happysad

Coincidentally I met a former student of Bruce Ing today - she told me about the expeditions they all went on to find fungi and slime moulds of all shapes and sizes (mostly microscopic) smiley - cool


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 11

Gnomon - time to move on

Still looks good! smiley - ok

I would change:

the Myxomycetes ('true slime moulds', or 'plasmodial slime moulds') grouping

to:

the Myxomycetes grouping ('true slime moulds', or 'plasmodial slime moulds')

You should then omit the comma after it.




A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 12

SashaQ - happysad

Thanks Gnomon smiley - biggrin I made that change smiley - ok


A87967822 - Slime Moulds

Post 13

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

This Entry was much more interesting than I thought when I read the title. smiley - smileysmiley - laugh


A87967822 - Slime Moulds - Puzzle-solving Organisms

Post 14

SashaQ - happysad

Thanks Tav smiley - laugh Good point - I have added a subtitle smiley - ok


A87967822 - Slime Moulds - Puzzle-solving Organisms

Post 15

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

smiley - cheers


A87967822 - Slime Moulds - Puzzle-solving Organisms

Post 16

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork Love the new title. When Tav said that, I thought: 'Slime Moulds: More Interesting Than They Sound'. smiley - winkeye


A87967822 - Slime Moulds - Puzzle-solving Organisms

Post 17

SashaQ - happysad

smiley - snork Thank you smiley - biggrin


Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!

Post 18

h2g2 auto-messages

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!


Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!

Post 19

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

Congratulations! smiley - bubbly


Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!

Post 20

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - applause


Key: Complain about this post

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more