A Paris zoo has showcased a mysterious organism dubbed the “blob”, a yellowish unicellular small living being which looks like a fungus and acts like an animal but belongs to the protist family.
Key points:

The blob has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs and wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut It has no brain, but is able to transmit knowledge if merged with another blob It is named after 1958 science-fiction horror film The Blob

This newest exhibit of the Paris Zoological Park, which will go on display to the public this weekend, has no mouth, no stomach, no eyes, yet it can detect food and digest it.

The blob also has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs or wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut in half.

“The blob is a living being which belongs to one of nature’s mysteries”, said Bruno David, director of the Paris Museum of Natural History, of which the Zoological Park is part.

more..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-17/paris-zoo-unveils-blob-organism-with-720-sexes/11610804

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physarum_polycephalum

read the wiki properly later on, i’m impressed

Wonder what’e the point of 720 sexes. Seems like overkill.

The Blob Theme Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK5jyVCdXwc

Interesting
I reckon you could incorporate it into a sci fi book about it being an alien lifeform something like a biological computer.
Reminds me of the black oil for The X-Files

Bubblecar said:

Wonder what’e the point of 720 sexes. Seems like overkill.

Bron Perna Sex – as determined by the gametes produced eg in humans ova and sperm cells we have one gene, producing an X or a Y and one type of offspring (in the simplest terms) the baby. Slime moulds have multiple genes and multiple types of spores so mathematically you have hundreds of possible variants.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/445446382714437/

I’m unable to find a proper reference for that 720 sexes claim

dv said:

I’m unable to find a proper reference for that 720 sexes claim

did you just assume my 720 genders?

Cymek said:

Interesting
I reckon you could incorporate it into a sci fi book about it being an alien lifeform something like a biological computer.

Been done..

Philip K. Dick’s novel Clans of the Alphane Moon featured a character called Lord Running Clam who was an intelligent slime mold who can speak and has telepathic powers.

Looks a bit involved.

Bubblecar said:

Looks a bit involved.

It’s been a long time but I recall that it was pretty straight ahead for PKD.

Ian said:

Bubblecar said:

Looks a bit involved.

It’s been a long time but I recall that it was pretty straight ahead for PKD.

In an infinite universe I wonder if all our realistic fiction exists somewhere

On Alpha III M2, psychiatric diagnostic groups have differentiated themselves into caste-like pseudo-ethnicities. The inhabitants have formed seven clans:

The Pares are people suffering from paranoia. They function as the statesman class. 

The Manses are suffering from mania. They are the most active class, the warrior class.

The Heebs consist of people suffering from hebephrenia (disorganized schizophrenia). To the other clans, they are useful only for manual labour. 

The Skitzes are the ones suffering from schizophrenia. They correspond to the poet class, with some of them being religious visionaries.

The Ob-Coms are the ones with obsessive-compulsive disorder,

The Deps are suffering from clinical depression.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clans_of_the_Alphane_Moon

.

Lord Running Clam was the most memorable character for mine.

sarahs mum said:

A Paris zoo has showcased a mysterious organism dubbed the “blob”, a yellowish unicellular small living being which looks like a fungus and acts like an animal but belongs to the protist family.
Key points:

The blob has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs and wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut It has no brain, but is able to transmit knowledge if merged with another blob It is named after 1958 science-fiction horror film The Blob

This newest exhibit of the Paris Zoological Park, which will go on display to the public this weekend, has no mouth, no stomach, no eyes, yet it can detect food and digest it.

The blob also has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs or wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut in half.

“The blob is a living being which belongs to one of nature’s mysteries”, said Bruno David, director of the Paris Museum of Natural History, of which the Zoological Park is part.

more..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-17/paris-zoo-unveils-blob-organism-with-720-sexes/11610804

Slime molds and water molds are “fungus-like” (saprophytic) organisms. These are consumer-decomposer protists. Two separate types of slime molds exist, the cellular and acellular forms.

Wiki

Hold on, hold on.

When looking at the tree of life, bacteria, archaea, eukaryota, i happened to note that there are two completely different unrelated branches of the eukaryotes both called “slime molds”.

Anyone want to comment on this?

mollwollfumble said:

Hold on, hold on.

When looking at the tree of life, bacteria, archaea, eukaryota, i happened to note that there are two completely different unrelated branches of the eukaryotes both called “slime molds”.

Anyone want to comment on this?

From last post:

Slime molds and water molds are “fungus-like” (saprophytic) organisms. These are consumer-decomposer protists. Two separate types of slime molds exist, the cellular and acellular forms.

Wiki

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Hold on, hold on.

When looking at the tree of life, bacteria, archaea, eukaryota, i happened to note that there are two completely different unrelated branches of the eukaryotes both called “slime molds”.

Anyone want to comment on this?

From last post:

Slime molds and water molds are “fungus-like” (saprophytic) organisms. These are consumer-decomposer protists. Two separate types of slime molds exist, the cellular and acellular forms.

Wiki

Ta.

transition said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physarum_polycephalum

read the wiki properly later on, i’m impressed

Beware the Blob :
Zoo Showcases Self-Healing Slime Mold

This Pulsating Slime Mold Comes in Peace
(ft. It’s Okay to Be Smart) | Deep Look