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Meet nature's smartest blob: The mysterious world of slime molds [1]

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Date: 2025-06-12

Slime molds are weird. They are blobs that don't have brains or nervous systems, yet they can navigate mazes better than some humans, and remember past events without neurons. Despite their name, slime molds are not actually mold. They're Protists, a diverse kingdom of single-celled misfits that exist in a category of their own.

In this video, you can watch a slime mold pulsate over a sped up video that was taken over the course of 50 minutes. It's alien-like and fascinating. The music from Stranger Things adds the perfect touch.

The creature featured in the video is a plasmodial slime mold. These single-celled organisms can be found thriving in forest floors and other damp environments, where they move about hunting for bacteria and fungi to consume. While they share some characteristics with fungi, such as their ability to produce fruiting bodies and spread through spores, scientists now classify them in their own distinct category.

See also: Video: See the beauty of mold growing

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