I want to ask you something about Physarum polycephalum.

[mint taste slime mould]

Hi. I am new member of slimoco. I'm going to start the small project about Physarum polycephalum.

So  I want to ask you something.

(I am not that good at English. So please understand my messy post.)

 First of the project, I'm going to observe the behavior of  Physarum polycephalum.

And then analyze that to make a algorithm. Through that algorithm, I will make a code.

Q 1. To do that, maybe I must have the Physarum polycephalum. Where did you get that  Physarum polycephalum? Please tell me where did you get them.

Q 2. To observe the  Physarum polycephalum, may be I need some camera, petri dishes, and oat meal. There's anything I have to get more? 

Q 3. I heard that  Physarum polycephalum grows 1㎝ per 1 hour. If so, what kind of camera is used to observe them?

Q 4. To make a algorithm, what kind of experiments have to be advance?  

Q 5. If there is some code about Physarum polycephalum, please share that code with me.

Q 6. Is incubator is okay to grow the Physarum polycephalum?

Well. My questions is done. Please tell me about something else that i must know.

[ian]

Hi

The most important thing is don't keep them in the light - they'll make spores after a couple of days and then die. Flash photography doesn't seem to bother them.

You don't really need petri dishes but they are convenient. Any plastic tub will do. I suggest you start off growing on paper rather than agar at least to start with.

They don't grow at 1cm an hour but they do move at that speed when they're exploring. I use an SLR with timer to film them ( photo every 5 mins with flash ), a phone with camera and flash also works well - you can get free time lapse software on the android store. 

You don't need an incubator, I keep mine in the spare room at home, the temperature varies from 14-27C and they're fine. For experiments where you need repeatability, temp control is a good idea, a reptile heating mat or a fish tank heater ( in a bottle of water ) are cheap and easy ways to set that up.

hope this gets you started

IAn