A group of researchers headed by Hokkaido University’s Atsushi Tero have found an innovative and visually stunning way of exploring network development and social infrastructure. The team arranged oat flakes on a wet surface in a pattern resembling the layout of cities in central Honshu. Placing the slime mold Physarum polycephalum near the flake representing Tokyo, the group watched as the the mold grew outward. As the slime mold grew toward other flakes, it organized itself in a pattern strangely reminiscent of the Tokyo rail system. The research, published in Science, argues that the growth and organization occurred with “comparable efficiency, fault tolerance, and cost” to the development of technological networks.
Dr. Tero and other team members have started working on ways of mathematically modeling the slime mold’s development. Their research will help expand understanding of emergent and self-organizing systems, and allow engineers and designers to find new ways of developing infrastructure networks that lack central control, such as regional transport systems and communications networks.