5 ms·

> In much the same way that a blindfolded person on a trampoline can sense if other people are on it, TRP channels help the slime mold detect faraway objects.

by bryan0 5y ago

> In much the same way that a blindfolded person on a trampoline can sense if other people are on it, TRP channels help the slime mold detect faraway objects. This is as detailed a description as the article gives in how they detect objects? This explanation does not seem very helpful since I assume the glass disks were not jumping up and down. Is there any more information available on how they sense?

19f191ty 5y ago
Sensation of mechanical stimulation. How we sense touch, vibrations, sound.
pphysch 5y ago
The experiment happened over a day, so lots of time for environmental vibrations (sound, seismic activity) to paint a subtle picture of the immediate surroundings.
incompatible 5y ago
The original paper seems to be at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202008161 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202008161. I only glanced at it, but noticed that they hypothesized that the organism uses mechanosensation involving rhythmic pulling on the substrate and interpretation of changes in things like tension, compression or mechanical strain.
- adrian_b 5y ago
  Free access to the (preprint) paper appears to be at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340090261_Mechanosensation_Mediates_Long-Range_Spatial_Decision-Making_in_an_Aneural_Organism https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340090261_Mechanose...
  - mcculley 5y ago
    Is there any reason one should not just go to Sci-Hub when hitting a paywall?
    - na85 5y ago
      I think Alexandra has temporarily stopped adding new papers, hasn't she?
      - dredmorbius 5y ago
        She's resumed updating Sci-Hub: Today is Sci-Hub anniversary the project is 10 years old! I'm going to publish 2,337,229 new articles to celebrate the date. They will be available on the website in a few hours (how about the lawsuit in India you may ask: our lawyers say that restriction is expired already) https://nitter.kavin.rocks/ringo_ring/status/1434356217208623106#m https://nitter.kavin.rocks/ringo_ring/status/143435621720862...
      - mcculley 5y ago
        I found this one on Sci-Hub by plugging in the DOI before I saw the comment above.
  - bryan0 5y ago
    Ok this is their theory for how it senses: > Physarum is widely known to grow in a pulsatile manner, which consists of a forward growth phase and a reverse streaming phase during which the cytoplasm is retracted away from the growth regions (Figure 8A). We have observed that this oscillation is critical for Physarum mechanosensation and that interrupting it by changing the substrate stiffness (Figure 4) or interfering with the oscillations (Figure 6) prevents accurate decision making. Thus, we propose a theoretical model of Physarum navigation where this oscillatory behavior acts as a sample-and- integrate function (Figure 8B): the growth regions sample the environment during the growth phase, optimize the direction of the network tubes during the reverse streaming phase by inducing internal tension in the Physarum network which then aligns future growth of the growth regions. So basically the slime mold pulls back on the substrate and feels for strain gradients.
    - incompatible 5y ago
      The organism didn't evolve to live in a petri dish. I wonder how it uses this ability in the wild.
guyomes 5y ago
An interesting related concept is Mogees [0] that converts any surface to a musical instrument using a contact microphone. The initial underlying theory is described in the thesis of Bruno Zamberlin [1], where he describes in chapter 4 a work with Carmine Emanuele Cella where a piezo sensor is used to convert the vibrations on any physical object into musical sound. [0]: https://youtu.be/xdo8N30qb2A https://youtu.be/xdo8N30qb2A [1]: http://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12312/ http://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12312/
- filoeleven 5y ago
  There’s an iOS app called Impaktor that gives similar results with the phone’s mic instead of a contact mic. So not as nuanced, but great for $5. (You will need headphones.) https://www.beepstreet.com/ios/impaktor https://www.beepstreet.com/ios/impaktor

by bryan0 5y ago

19f191ty 5y ago

Sensation of mechanical stimulation. How we sense touch, vibrations, sound.

pphysch 5y ago

The experiment happened over a day, so lots of time for environmental vibrations (sound, seismic activity) to paint a subtle picture of the immediate surroundings.

incompatible 5y ago

The original paper seems to be at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202008161 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202008161. I only glanced at it, but noticed that they hypothesized that the organism uses mechanosensation involving rhythmic pulling on the substrate and interpretation of changes in things like tension, compression or mechanical strain.

adrian_b 5y ago
Free access to the (preprint) paper appears to be at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340090261_Mechanosensation_Mediates_Long-Range_Spatial_Decision-Making_in_an_Aneural_Organism https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340090261_Mechanose...
- mcculley 5y ago
  Is there any reason one should not just go to Sci-Hub when hitting a paywall?
  - na85 5y ago
    I think Alexandra has temporarily stopped adding new papers, hasn't she?
    - dredmorbius 5y ago
      She's resumed updating Sci-Hub: Today is Sci-Hub anniversary the project is 10 years old! I'm going to publish 2,337,229 new articles to celebrate the date. They will be available on the website in a few hours (how about the lawsuit in India you may ask: our lawyers say that restriction is expired already) https://nitter.kavin.rocks/ringo_ring/status/1434356217208623106#m https://nitter.kavin.rocks/ringo_ring/status/143435621720862...
    - mcculley 5y ago
      I found this one on Sci-Hub by plugging in the DOI before I saw the comment above.
- bryan0 5y ago
  Ok this is their theory for how it senses: > Physarum is widely known to grow in a pulsatile manner, which consists of a forward growth phase and a reverse streaming phase during which the cytoplasm is retracted away from the growth regions (Figure 8A). We have observed that this oscillation is critical for Physarum mechanosensation and that interrupting it by changing the substrate stiffness (Figure 4) or interfering with the oscillations (Figure 6) prevents accurate decision making. Thus, we propose a theoretical model of Physarum navigation where this oscillatory behavior acts as a sample-and- integrate function (Figure 8B): the growth regions sample the environment during the growth phase, optimize the direction of the network tubes during the reverse streaming phase by inducing internal tension in the Physarum network which then aligns future growth of the growth regions. So basically the slime mold pulls back on the substrate and feels for strain gradients.
  - incompatible 5y ago
    The organism didn't evolve to live in a petri dish. I wonder how it uses this ability in the wild.

guyomes 5y ago

An interesting related concept is Mogees [0] that converts any surface to a musical instrument using a contact microphone. The initial underlying theory is described in the thesis of Bruno Zamberlin [1], where he describes in chapter 4 a work with Carmine Emanuele Cella where a piezo sensor is used to convert the vibrations on any physical object into musical sound. [0]: https://youtu.be/xdo8N30qb2A https://youtu.be/xdo8N30qb2A [1]: http://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12312/ http://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12312/

filoeleven 5y ago
There’s an iOS app called Impaktor that gives similar results with the phone’s mic instead of a contact mic. So not as nuanced, but great for $5. (You will need headphones.) https://www.beepstreet.com/ios/impaktor https://www.beepstreet.com/ios/impaktor