Using a 'virtual slime mold' to design a subway network less prone to disruption

Originally published at: Using a 'virtual slime mold' to design a subway network less prone to disruption - Vinkas Blog

It doesn’t have a brain and survives on rotting vegetable matter—but it could offer valuable insights into city planning, according to a team of University of Toronto researchers. Physarum polycephalum is a slime mold, a single-celled amoeboid organism that grows as a greenish-yellow system of veins. These veins form a tubular network that is optimized to transfer…