Reconstructing the Nakagaki Experiment

[Michael R.]

Hi collective,

I'm trying to recreate the Nakagaki Experiment (where slime molds were introduced to cold air repeatedly and then anticipated the next bout of cold air) for my biology class. Right now I have some Physarum Polycephalum on damp paper towel on a large baking tray (very unprofessional) with the top covered by cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap. How would you recommend measuring the growth of the slime mold? I've toyed around with the idea of rigging up a rid system and measuring the growth based on that, but it seems sub-optimal....

Thanks in advance!

[Soichiro Tsuda]

I think taking snapshots using webcam would do. Set a camera on top of physarum and take pictures every 10min or so. You should be able to see them moving forward.

If you put a piece of cell on agar corvered with kitchen wrap to make 'race track' (i.e. exposed agar), the growth would be more evident.

[ian]

Snapshots is definitely the way to go - the laziest way would be a time lapse app for a smart phone,  you can use a flash without causing trouble.  If you went for a shorter interval - one or two mins you'd have something that would render well as a movie