The Slime Mold City

Bio-computation toy based on Physarum polycephalum. Place food nodes (cities) and watch slime mold grow an efficient transport network. Use salt and light as obstacles.

Tools

Food
Salt
Light

Simulation

City Presets

Network Stats

Cities connected: 0 / 0
Network length: 0 units
Optimal length: 0 units
Efficiency:
0%

About Physarum polycephalum

  • Slime mold is a single-celled organism that can solve optimization problems
  • It grows toward food sources and creates an efficient network to transport nutrients
  • Real research showed Physarum could recreate the Tokyo railway network!
  • Place food nodes as cities - the mold will connect them efficiently
  • Salt repels the mold - it will grow around salty areas
  • Light also repels the mold - it prefers dark areas
  • Watch how the network prunes inefficient paths over time
  • Compare the network efficiency to the theoretical minimum spanning tree