Slime mold is an incredible organism.

Their networking behavior is fascinating in observation,

“When allogeneic plasmodia of Myxomycetes encounter each other, they fuse or avoid each
other depending on the combination, indicating that plasmodia can recognize self and non-self.”.
(Masui, Satoh, and Seto) The current model does not do a good job at explaining this behavior
and more research is necessary to understand what allows their communication and behavior that
is observed, “The seemingly simple allorecognition is not fully understood from the perspective
of behavior. The idea that plasmodium secretes a repellent which other encountered individuals
avoid does not fully explain the plasmodium allorecognition behavior.” (Masui, Satoh, and Seto)
The large mystery of it all is rooted in the extracellular signaling of the organisms, “According to
microbiology titan and evolution maverick Carl Woese, there's some sort of emergent property
inherent to the communications networks of the individual cells, which are capable of sending
molecular signals to each other.” (Keim) Thusly, their ability to create vast complicated
networks in interesting ways is still being studied, but models of their behavior of branching out
has helped inspire Tokyo rail network improvements. When given an option of two routes, the
slime mold only moves when its critical mass is enough; it only moves in order to meet its needs
to find more space for development and growth. If two directions are presented as options, the
organism will only move in both direction when its mass has grown sufficiently to require both
areas of space. (Ito and Kobayashi)This is quite complicated to describe in words and the picture
below should help to visualize this critical mass point that is observed in their movement.

The bioinspired nature of this technology is that engineers spent countless hours tiring over
mapping layouts to optimize their rail system, but it ended up looking very similar to a slime
mold colonization in the presence of scarce resources. (Sanders) In a study they found the map
created by civil engineers ended up resembling the Tokyo rail routes almost identically, When
presented with oat flakes arranged in the pattern of Japanese cities around Tokyo, single-celled
slime molds construct networks of nutrient-channeling tubes that are strikingly similar to the
layout of the Japanese rail system, researchers from Japan and England report Jan. 22
in Science.” (Sanders)

The problem this will solve is the intensive networking and engineering of man-made pathways.
There is such robust biological infrastructure in microorganisms to conform and create optimal
pathways. They are hardwired to create perfect networks; for instance, “bacterial species also
had the ability to grow nanowires.” (Gori), which add to create networked communication and
coordination. Scientists are already using microbial methods to create mathematical models to
optimize such systems for human use. I think wider use of rail systems in the United States
would push this technology forward. Public transportation in major U.S. cities is abhorrent in
their current states. Very few light rails exist to serve a great public need. Personally, I am from
St. Louis and the “Metrolink” only runs an east to west route, which only helps a small fraction
of the population. I believe a wider adoption and proposed benefits of emerging models would
propel the technology forward, which would be a great societal win. The need for cheap and easy
transportation to the widest corners of a city would greatly help people of all socioeconomic
backgrounds. It would also help to reduce carbon emissions from single passengers commuting.

Lastly, I would like to weigh in on the degree of Bioinspiration. This is not truly biomimicry or
bioinspiration. The technology and mapping are designed based off of slime mold modeling, but
the communication and branching network development is something different entirely. If the
rail networks communicated and grew like the mold, it would only then be biomimicry.

Gori, Yuri. “Op-Ed: Microbes May Be More Networked Than You Are | WIRED.” WIRED.
N.p., 2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2018.
Ito, Kentaro, and Ryo Kobayashi. “Searching Strategy of Slime Mold and Its Mathematical
Model.” 2017 56th Annual Conference of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers
of Japan, SICE 2017 2017–Novem (2017): 10–11. Web.
Keim, Brandon. “Complexity Theory in Icky Action: Meet the Slime Mold | WIRED.” WIRED.
N.p., 2008. Web. 25 Nov. 2018.
Masui, Mana, Shinobu Satoh, and Kensuke Seto. “Allorecognition Behavior of Slime Mold
Plasmodium—Physarum Rigidum Slime Sheath-Mediated Self-Extension Model.Pdf.”
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 51.284100 (2018): n. pag. Print.
Sanders, Laura. “Slime Mold Grows Network Just Like Tokyo Rail System | WIRED.” Wired.
N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2018.