I’ve been holed up for the least year finishing my PhD and now I’m putting together a book proposal on mycological happenings… I’m following this thread on “fungal computing” (see attached paper). Besides Adamatsky in Bristol, Nakagaki’s lab in Sapporo has been working with slime molds (Physarum polycephalum) (http://www.cris.hokudai.ac.jp/cris/en/research/ob/ob_innovative/nakagaki.html).
Do any of you know anyone working on this? It would be extra super cool if someone was doing it in a community lab. I want to include as much open source science as possible in the book.
I think that @bengtsjolen mentioned he was working on fungal computing when I met him?
Fungal and amoeboid computing… I like the topic.
Are you more interested in fungi or myxomycetes/amoeba?
P. polycephalum is a good old friend of mine and currently also my flatmate again.
The DIY Biolab @Bauhaus-Univesity is a community lab and they are working with slime mold for many years already. I recently made some slimelapse movies with my students and it was a lot of fun. I will compile and upload the material soon.
Thanks @glitch for the link! “post-internet mudland” – I love it.
@julian – “slimelapse”, that is a great word I’m partial to work with filamentous fungi, since that is my main focus, but the work with myxomycetes are also fascinating. In the paper that I posted, Adamatzky is experimenting with oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), which synchronizes well with the other things I want to write about… but honestly at this point, I’m just trying to see what’s out there! I’d love to hear more about what you guys are doing Is anyone at your lab working on the “Physarum Chip” these days?
To give some more context, I’d love to find someone to interview who has done (or is doing) this research. And to figure out if it is something that is happening outside of universities or if it’s only being done by “professional” scientists.
These links are all really helpful – thank you guys
From this, I’ve figured out that this course with Sarah Grant must have been what Bengt was referring to when he mentioned that he was going to work on a fungal computer in Geneva. (I love that she has a ham radio channel.)
I’m wondering now if I should do a whole chapter on fungus-inspired art.
Unrelated, I am appreciating all your salutations! (hoi zäme!) I’m reading a book about whales and whaling so “ahoj” seems appropriate
Hello, its not about “fungal computing” but we did some experiments with the basidiomycete genus Armillaria. The works deal more with interspecies communication. We used the bioluminescent ability of the fungus, to find out more about its hidden live…
If you are interested, visit our webpage: http://www.baggenstos-rudolf.ch/seductive_green_light.html
Best, Heidy & Andreas
Is anyone at your lab working on the “Physarum Chip” these days?
