Slime Molds, did you know...

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Ken Ramos
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Slime Molds, did you know...

Post by Ken Ramos »

that they have been used in the application of making video games! :o Read about it here , last paragraph at the bottom of the page. :D

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Hhmm... I remember reading flock-of-bird equations when they were first published, about 30 years ago, and it's odd but I can't recall a thing about slime molds in those articles. Ah well, I forget so much these days... :?

However, I have no doubt that the equations are the same, and the story does make a nice position of prominence for the myxo's, even if it is a bit apocryphal. :lol:

--Rik

Bill D
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Post by Bill D »

That would explain my son's bedroom... it must have escaped!
Bill

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I did a bit more tracking down, and it seems that the story is correct. See http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.c ... 897&agid=2 , which says that Segel and Keller published a seminal paper on modeling slime mold in 1969. That would be just a few years before I first saw flock-of-birds animation at a SIGGRAPH conference.

Cool! I can hardly wait to tell my gaming friends about some of the origins of their amusement. 8)

--Rik

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

A very informative piece there Rik, a very good and interesting read indeed. :D That really makes my interest in these creatures to grow even more. To think something like the lowely slime mold may hold a myrid of technological possibilites for the future. Biomathmatics, never realized such a thing existed but then again... :-k :D I never have been good at math...of any kind :( .

Mike B in OKlahoma
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Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

I remember reading about the bird stuff around 1977 or so...Interesting that it applies to other things as well.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

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Carl_Constantine
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Post by Carl_Constantine »

isn't it essentially "game of life" type equations which should work in this case.
Carl B. Constantine

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