The fascinating world of the plasmodial slime mould is explored in The Creeping Garden. The plasmodial slime mould is an organism typically found around rotting logs, which can be described as a mix between a fungus and an animal. Sporting a primitive intelligence, slime moulds fascinate scientists, who perform a wide variety of experiments. The plasmodial slime mould is named as such because colonies found in the woods tend to look like mounds of slime. There are over 1000 different species of slime moulds, which some scientists argue have a primitive intelligence, which allows them to slowly move, a 20th of an inch per hour, towards food sources. Various experiments are performed with slime moulds, ranging from navigating mazes to manipulating robotic faces. While slime moulds are considered the black sleep of the microbiological world, which includes the fact that we might not even notice if they disappear, they remain a fascinating subject for many scientists. The Creeping Garden makes a heavy use of magnified time lapse photography to show the world of slime moulds close up. When the pulsating movements of slime moulds are shown through time lapse, they truly look like some sort of creature straight out of a science fiction film. In fact, I would have been very happy if entirety of The Creeping Garden was just the close up shots of slime moulds moving towards oat flakes. However, the film also goes into the many experiments performed with slime moulds, which are quite interesting in themselves. Altogether, The Creeping Garden is a very fascinating film about an organism that many people don't even know exists. ★ ★ ★ ★ | LIKED IT
