# Source Note: Slime Mold, Cell Intelligence, and Where to Get It

Date: 2026-06-28  
Public article: `https://managingexpectations.net/blog/articles/slime-mold-cell-intelligence.html`

## User-supplied lead

YouTube Short: `https://youtube.com/shorts/9gkynKcGvHk?si=E98ruxOsq2Q8b-Nu`

Captured metadata:

- Video ID: `9gkynKcGvHk`
- Title: `Slime Mold Intelligence mapped the japanese Subway systems`
- Channel/uploader: `MindKnowledgePower`
- Upload date: `2026-05-30`
- Duration: `61` seconds
- Description: `#joeroganexperience #slimemold #subwaysystem`
- Captured transcript: `research/philosophy/slime-mold-cell-intelligence-youtube-transcript-2026-06-28.txt`
- Captured metadata: `research/philosophy/slime-mold-cell-intelligence-youtube-metadata-2026-06-28.json`

## Extracted Short claim

The Short says Japanese researchers made a nutrient/agar map of Tokyo and surrounding cities, placed oats at the nodes, inoculated slime mold at Tokyo, and after about 28 hours it reorganized into an efficient network similar to / more efficient than the Japanese rail system. It frames this as “cellular intelligence.”

## What it is called

- Common name: slime mold / plasmodial slime mold.
- Scientific name: *Physarum polycephalum*.
- Shippable dormant form: sclerotium.
- Active feeding form: plasmodium.
- Common product names: `Physarum polycephalum Sclerotium, Living, Box`; `Physarum polycephalum living plasmodium`; `Physarum culture kit`.

## Where to get it

Verified supplier trail:

- AYVA / Carolina product page: `Physarum polycephalum Sclerotium, Living, Box`, product code `156190`, listed at about `$29.53` at time of retrieval.
  - URL: https://ayva.ca/carolina/product/156190_physarumpolycephalumsclerotium_living_box/
  - Page states: optimal medium `2% Agar with Old Fashioned Quaker® Oats`; optimal temperature `25° C`; classification `Slime Mold (Myxomycetes)`; sclerotium is the crusted resting stage shipped in a small box and plasmodium emerges when favorable conditions return.
- Carolina Biological has related product pages / culture kits, but direct automated page access returned `403`; search result and AYVA page confirmed Carolina-origin product code.
- Ward's Science also has *Physarum polycephalum* listings, but automated page content was sparse/blocked.
- Hobby sellers sometimes offer sclerotia online, but for a school/business/public demonstration, use an educational biological supplier and comply with import/shipping rules.

## Primary / credible evidence anchors

- Tero et al., `Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design`, *Science*, 2010. DOI: `10.1126/science.1177894`.
  - Crossref abstract says food sources were deposited in a pattern corresponding to cities around Tokyo; resulting *Physarum* tubule network was similar to the Tokyo rail network.
- Nakagaki, Yamada & Tóth, `Maze-solving by an amoeboid organism`, *Nature*, 2000. DOI: `10.1038/35035159`.
- Boisseau, Vogel & Dussutour, `Habituation in non-neural organisms: evidence from slime moulds`, *Proceedings of the Royal Society B*, 2016. DOI: `10.1098/rspb.2016.0446`.
- Reid, `Thoughts from the forest floor: a review of cognition in the slime mould Physarum polycephalum`, *Animal Cognition*, 2023. DOI: `10.1007/s10071-023-01782-1`.

## Editorial boundaries

- Do say: *Physarum* shows decentralized problem-solving, adaptive networks, habituation/learning-like behaviour, memory-like effects and non-neural cognition.
- Do not say: the slime mold is conscious, psychic, human-like, magically intelligent, or literally designing subways.
- Best Managing Expectations frame: intelligence is not only a brain property; it can also be a process of sensing, feedback, memory, adaptation and energy-efficient routing.