The Physarum Computer

Kurt Mehlhorn

Abstract: Physarum is a slime mold. It was observed over the past 10 years that the mold is able to solve shortest path problems and to construct good Steiner networks [2,4]. In a nutshell, the shortest path experiment is as follows: A maze is built and the mold is made to cover the entire maze. Food is then provided at two positions s and t and the evolution of the slime is observed. Over time, the slime retracts to the shortest s-t-path.