John Bonner's slime mold movies
[NO NARRATION, VISUAL AND TEXT ONLY]
VISUAL: A black, wormlike object moves slowly across the screen.
TEXT: "Princeton biology professor emeritus John Bonner has studied slime molds for nearly 70 years. He made films of them as an undergraduate student."
VISUAL: Many amoebae are seen moving rapidly in no particular direction on a plane.
TEXT: "Slime molds are 'no more than a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath,' Bonner says. Yet, they seem to exhibit a form of intelligence."
VISUAL: The amoebae are now moving towards each other and gathering in a close group.
TEXT: "When separated, they will pull themselves back together."
VISUAL: Another shot of the amoebae moving towards each other and combining to form a larger blob.
TEXT: "They also exhibit self-sacrifice. They will gather and form a stalk and then a fruiting body." Those cells making up the stalk will die. Those at the top will clump into a ball made of live spores.
VISUAL: The blob is seen morphing into a stalk and rising up. As the stalk lengthens, a ball of live spores remains towards the top of the stalk as it grows.
TEXT: “After all these years, Bonner believes there is still much to learn.”
VISUAL: A shot of Bonner in a lab viewing these molds under a microscope.