Comments - Can Physarum polycephalum detect a magnetic field? - The Slime Mould Collective2024-03-29T15:22:44Zhttp://slimoco.ning.com/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=3917201%3ABlogPost%3A157123&xn_auth=noTry using a dry cell and two…tag:slimoco.ning.com,2022-06-08:3917201:Comment:1584822022-06-08T00:54:11.348ZKenneth Ramoshttp://slimoco.ning.com/profile/KennethRamos927
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Try using a dry cell and two electrodes one (+) the other (-) of course and place them at opposite sides of the petri dish. Attach the battery or dry cell and observe what happens. A single AA battery should suffice, if not try a D cell. What you are hoping to accomplish is the exhibition of galvanotropism, or a response to an electrical stimulus. Being a protist, <em>P. polycephalum </em>should be attracted to the positive electrode, it would be…</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Try using a dry cell and two electrodes one (+) the other (-) of course and place them at opposite sides of the petri dish. Attach the battery or dry cell and observe what happens. A single AA battery should suffice, if not try a D cell. What you are hoping to accomplish is the exhibition of galvanotropism, or a response to an electrical stimulus. Being a protist, <em>P. polycephalum </em>should be attracted to the positive electrode, it would be interesting to see how the organism is affected and what the end result may be. A number of other experiments could be done with varying voltages, amperage, most any thing short of capital punishment.</span></p> There's a paper that claims t…tag:slimoco.ning.com,2021-11-15:3917201:Comment:1572372021-11-15T18:25:42.913Zianhttp://slimoco.ning.com/profile/ian
<p>There's a paper that claims they can just sense it natively, I don't buy it either - I've also tried, they don't even react to hard drive magnets directly under the dish. </p>
<p>Some organisms do sense magnetic fields though - my water butt has Magnetotactic bacteria, you can see see the magnetic crystals under EM, physarum doesn't have those - I'd have noticed.</p>
<p>I wonder about getting some ultra fine iron oxide... </p>
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<p>There's a paper that claims they can just sense it natively, I don't buy it either - I've also tried, they don't even react to hard drive magnets directly under the dish. </p>
<p>Some organisms do sense magnetic fields though - my water butt has Magnetotactic bacteria, you can see see the magnetic crystals under EM, physarum doesn't have those - I'd have noticed.</p>
<p>I wonder about getting some ultra fine iron oxide... </p>
<p></p>