Oozing Through Texas Soil, a Team of Amoebas Billions Strong

nytimes ^ | March 23, 2009 | CAROL KAESUK YOON

[JoeProBono]

After producing superlatives like the world’s biggest statue of a jackrabbit and the nation’s most unpopular modern-day president, Texas can now boast what may be its most bizarre and undoubtedly its slimiest topper yet: the world’s largest known colony of clonal amoebas. Scientists found the vast and sticky empire stretching 40 feet across, consisting of billions of genetically identical single-celled individuals, oozing along in the muck of a cow pasture outside Houston. “It was very unexpected,” said Owen M. Gilbert, a graduate student at Rice University and lead author of the report in the March issue of Molecular Ecology. “It was like nothing we’d ever seen before.”

[McLynnan]

Oh well, Texas doesn’t like the NY Times either.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Ah, my first scariest movie ever. Then later I think it was a spider
really thrilled me.

[Squidpup]

[martin_fierro]

After producing superlatives like the world’s biggest statue of a jackrabbit and the nation’s most unpopular modern-day president,

After writing for a spectacularly-failing newspaper...

[TexasRepublic]

“I thought this was a story about Obama voters.”

No, the amoebas are smarter than that.

[allmendream]

But one celled organisms could never join up to form aggregates or cooperate or become pseudo multi cellular organisms!

Once again the “missing” links are not so missing, but living among us still in one form or another.

[JoeProBono]

"Once again the “missing” links are not so missing, but living among us still in one form or another."

[allmendream]

LOL!

[neverdem]

bump & a micro ping

[Smokin' Joe]

In the first stage slime mold cells move around independently, then they suddenly form into a unified coordiated mass that can move around. At some signal the mass will clump up, differentiate, and form fruiting bodies...

Oh. Kinda like Democrats.

[BlueAngel]

Bingo!!