It’s been a consultant for NASA, shot at by police and mistaken for an alien. How slime mold—a brainless, single-celled organism—mapped the dark universe, keeps challenging the top minds to rethink intelligence, and has an ability to fill us with wonder beyond the human kind.
Slime mold’s party tricks are proving to be laced with valuable intel we wouldn’t have without them.
Slime mold’s oddities are balanced by behavior that is ultra-relatable—they are ruled by food! Case in point: A hungry individual is avoided more by its peers than a poisoned one. Humans are now looking to the hardwired programming that gets them fed ASAP to feed the next big innovation.
No one would guess human bones and slime mold would lead a design trend. Definitely not a billion dollar one. But the epically odd duo earned seats at the design table, and the results make you wonder why every design team doesn’t consult them from the start.
No powerful limbs. No aerodynamic wings. So slow, movement can only be noticed with a timelapse video. So why are the experts turning to slime mold for mobility breakthroughs?
They’ve mapped rail systems, nervous systems, the cosmos and gave us a fresh take on Paris. But how? And what does this mean for future cities and how we live in them?
A single cell guided the world’s top scientists through another universe and its only limitations were our own.
What does it mean when the most powerful and well-funded organizations, NASA to the United Nations, turn to a brainless blob for answers?
The ultimate freak show is an understatement: Armed worms, sex-crazed fish, poison-hungry butterflies, polka-dotted flying good luck charms, and the most despicable creature born with a grin whose blood fights gravity. No one knows all the secrets they hold, but what’s clear is that the strangest amongst us are showing us a better way to live. The catch? They are teaching us their survival skills as they disappear.
What does it mean when a shrimp shapes the future of aircraft, dolphins predict tsunamis, and invisible organisms help solve the plastic crisis? It means in a world dominated by market-driven solutions and rushed progress, it’s our billion-year-old planet that’s shaping the future of technology and commanding the attention of obsessed innovators, conservationists, and hardcore business folks. Just by being. Makes you think: Who are the real masters of technology?
