Slime mould imitates transport networks in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the slime mould Physarum polycephalum Design/methodology/approach – The paper proceeds by representing major urban areas of China by oat flakes, inoculating the slime mould in Beijing, waiting till the slime mould colonises all urban areas, or colonises some and cease further propagation, and analysing the protoplasmic networks formed and comparing with man-made motorway network and planar proximity graphs. Findings Findings – Laboratory experiments found that P. polycephalum Originality/value – The paper demonstrated the strong component of transport system built by slime mould of P. polycephalum