Slime mold railway network planning

Interesting, if unconventional, research done by the local uni here, Hokkaido University:

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2010/01/slime_mould_attacks_simulates_tokyo_rail_network.php

Very interesting article indeed! could this be the future of urban planning??? I can only imagine how the slime would have created the shinkansen network... :P

Biological systems are almost always more efficient then their man-made counterparts at accomplishing equivalent tasks.

They need to put some toxic "no-go" oat-flakes in, otherwise they're planning their networks as if there were no people or natural features.

They need to put some toxic "no-go" oat-flakes in, otherwise they're planning their networks as if there were no people or natural features.

Actually, they simulated mountains, ocean, etc with varying degrees of light shining down on the plate the slime was growing on; the brighter the light, the "harder" it would have been to place a "rail line." Since the slime mold doesn't like light, it would naturally try to avoid it.

Well, that works. :-) 

Actually, that slime mold bears uncomfortable similarities to my own life.  :-P