Protoplasmic Streaming of the Physarum Plasmodium

[jySarang]

Can you explain why the streaming changed direction?

[so1tsuda]

@jySarang In a nutshell, it's same as muscle contraction. Some parts of a cell contract and push the intracellular liquid foward, whereas other parts relax and absorb the liquid. This contraction-relaxation cycle is synchronised everywhere in the cell, thus the flow changes direction periodically. More technically, it's been suggested that it's caused by the translocation of calcium from some calcium stores (vesicles) to protoplasm and back, but the full mechanism is not known yet.

[elementalkirby]

pretty incredible