Into the fourth dimension! Physarum time plots

[ian]

Had some fun looking at ways to compare growth habits of different strains. I've been time lapsing them every minute on plain agar with no food to get a good idea of shape. Loading the movie into imagej I tried plotting it in 3d - basically just stacking up all the images in sequence. Put on a printer I go these strange tree like objects - ignore the red stuff - it's casting sand, it didn't work and it's hard to clean out.

This is 1:1 scale in x & y and ten minutes per mm in z growth starts at the top

Turns out I chose one that would print by blind luck - the more spindly strains have too many breaks and gaps so I'll need to sieve through the data

[KAIA KIIK]

Hi Ian!

i'm an artist from Paris and your funwork is very inspiring for me as I'm also doing sculptures with and by Physarum.

Are you artist?  Sorry if it's already written somewhere - I'm new here. 

Happy New Year wishes to you!

Kaia

[ian]

Hi there and welcome! 

I'm a career scientist - microscopy but I've dabbled in metal casting and silverwork since I was a kid and love doing a bit of lapidary.

Physarum isn't something I officially research- I got it in for  lectures years ago, found it really amazing for public engagement and it's  taken over. I use the work equipment ( electron microscopes and laser scanning 'scopes ) for looking at it on quiet days - officially for publicity images but mainly because slime moulds are beautiful to look at inside ( well all cells are but myxos have weird on their side too ). Looks like I might even get a paper or two out of some of the playing

I've been directly investment casting with physarum on leaves and clay and since that makes a hell of a lot of waste ( If you know any uses of broken lumps of plaster moulds.. ) I wanted to find a way to work physarum into sand casting. I think I'm part way there but I need to smooth out the overall form so it'll come out of the sand

[ian]

Another experiment - 3d model of a colony via photogrammetry 1:1 in x & y but about 10x in z to exaggerate the veins