Physarum Lab Report

Introduction

Physarum is a yellow colored single celled organism that holds a large amount of nuclei and can release tubes while it finds food (Costello, 2013). The physarum also enjoys cool damp areas that are wet where it feasts food such as dead matter, bacteria, and oat flakes (Miranda, 2013). Physarum’s growth can be affected by exposure to mold, light, and weather inclements. The physarum reacts to different types of stimuli which can also affect its growth. The physarum can be affected by sound, light, and electrical activity because of when it forages, it releases electrical activity that produces its reactions (Miranda, 2011). The question asked was Will playing different genres of music influence Physarum polycephalum growth? The

Five medium agar plates were used that were #cm long, with # of agar concentration. The agar plates were autoclaved which meant they were sanitized to minimize mold. Oats were also used to feed the physarum, along with a tool box that included a ruler and scalpel to place the oats and measure the length of the growth. There were problems with mold due to environmental changes, so, the project went from 7 days to five. The physarum was placed into five agar plates and from there into a Styrofoam box with a boombox for vibrations. Four different genres of music were chosen for the experiment which were rap, country, classical, and rock. The rap song was “Bodak Yellow” by Cardi B, country was “Yellow Roses” by Dolly Parton, classical was “Yellow” by Mark Fowler, and rock was “Old Yellow Bricks” by Artic Monkeys. There were four trials, two were one week long and the other were five days. Each song was played once a day, with the duration of eleven minutes and fifty-nine seconds. There were a few changes made to the experiment which were shortened trials, placement of a boombox and Styrofoam box, and changed data to include area and length in centimeters from inches. Trials were shortened because of mold buildup as there were changes to weather. The boombox and Styrofoam box were added to increase vibrations, and

The T-test results for rap and control showed the data was 0.11, p value was 0.9, and degrees of freedom was 6. The t value for rap and rock was .511, and p value was 0.6. The figures for 2-5 showed the trial data for how the Physarum grew to different genres of music. Rap’s “Bodak Yellow” by Cardi B won with 60.68cm, control came in second with 60.4 cm, classical’s Yellow by Mark Fowler came in third with 49.79 cm, country’s “Yellow Roses” by Dolly Parton came in fourth with 47.74 cm, and lastly rock’s “Old Yellow Bricks” finished with least amount of growth of 47.71 cm. Figure seven showed the growth of trial 4 as a stand alone with the data in cm2. This is due to the awareness of need for area being late. Control won as it was 10 inches followed by rock with 6, rock with 2.5 inches, classical with 2 inches, and country with less than 2 inches. The data presented followed with Oscar Martin’s beliefs that the Physarum would grow more than music it favored (Motherboard). If the data were to further, different types of genres would be used to test how the physarum would react and area would have been measured in earlier