My editor at the New York Times called me a few weeks ago and said, “Slime molds! Can you write something about them?” Moments like that fill me with gratitude.
Here’s my story, on the cover of tomorrow’s Science Times. I look at how they solve the evolutionary puzzles of altruism, build highway systems, and turn out to be some of the oldest life forms on land.
(And for more on the ever-expanding worldwide diversity of slime mold, check out the Eumycetezoan Project.]
[Image: myriorama/Flickr via Creative Commons]
Originally published October 3, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.