05-04-2014, 01:05 PM
This is related to absolutely nothing, except the fact that I stopped to scribble in the margin next to it, 'Holy everything ever - that is MADNESS!!!' And then decided you all needed to know this was a thing that fucking happens.
Unless you think amoebae are creepy, I guess. In which case, this is totally not for you.
Also, apparently the plural of ameoba is amoebae, not amoebas, and I have been pluralizing that wrong for...ever.
From Wired for Culture (Mark Pagel):
The slime molds or social amoebae are a species of single-celled creatures that live on the forest floor. Most of the time they lead a solitary existence resembling tiny drops of jelly. But when they suffer from starvation, something wondrous occurs. One after another sends out a chemical alarm summoning them to unite. From all around, the amoebae converge, eventually forming into a streaming multicellular saffron-colored carpet. This society of strangers then oozes across the ground. At a suitably sunny point the carpet stops and then the amoebae cooperate to build a physical tower or stalk. It is composed of their individual bodies and it rises from the forest floor as they climb up over each other, in effect standing on each other's shoulders. Some climb to the very top of this tower, where a fortunate group makes its way into a bulbous cluster. This cluster acts as a launching pad for spores that will be carried on the wind or the backs of passing animals to better lands, where they will become the progenitors of the next generation of amoebae. The rest will die, having quietly given their lives for other amoebae they did not know and had probably never seen.
I will, of course, never ever spring this on you in the Umbra with spirit amoebae. GIANT SPIRIT AMOEBAE!!!
Definitely, definitely not.....
Unless you think amoebae are creepy, I guess. In which case, this is totally not for you.
Also, apparently the plural of ameoba is amoebae, not amoebas, and I have been pluralizing that wrong for...ever.
From Wired for Culture (Mark Pagel):
The slime molds or social amoebae are a species of single-celled creatures that live on the forest floor. Most of the time they lead a solitary existence resembling tiny drops of jelly. But when they suffer from starvation, something wondrous occurs. One after another sends out a chemical alarm summoning them to unite. From all around, the amoebae converge, eventually forming into a streaming multicellular saffron-colored carpet. This society of strangers then oozes across the ground. At a suitably sunny point the carpet stops and then the amoebae cooperate to build a physical tower or stalk. It is composed of their individual bodies and it rises from the forest floor as they climb up over each other, in effect standing on each other's shoulders. Some climb to the very top of this tower, where a fortunate group makes its way into a bulbous cluster. This cluster acts as a launching pad for spores that will be carried on the wind or the backs of passing animals to better lands, where they will become the progenitors of the next generation of amoebae. The rest will die, having quietly given their lives for other amoebae they did not know and had probably never seen.
I will, of course, never ever spring this on you in the Umbra with spirit amoebae. GIANT SPIRIT AMOEBAE!!!
Definitely, definitely not.....
