KEY – Slime Mold

ANTICIPATION: BEFORE LISTENING

You will be listening to the audio version of an extract of a video called “This pulsating Slime Mold
Comes in Peace” and the full audio version of a video called “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?”. They are
both about something called Slime Mold.

To prepare for the listening:

1. Define “slime” (use your phone if you need to): an unpleasantly thick and slippery liquid substance
2. The meaning of “Mold”, in this document, is close to “fungus”. Find the adapted definition (use your
phone if you need to):
A furry growth of minute fungi occurring typically in moist warm conditions, especially on food or other
organic matter.

3. Given the above information, you think slime mold could be from the kingdom of:
a. Monera (ex: bacillus)
b. Protista (ex: amoeba)
c. Fungi (ex: mushrooms)
d. Plantae (ex: any plant)
e. Animalia/Metazoa (ex: any animal or insect etc)

4. Write what you think:

a. The title “This pulsating Slime Mold Comes in Peace” implies that slime mold could be:
dangerous/aggressive/foreign/strange/threatening/misunderstood…

b. The title “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?” implies that slime mold could be: smart/intelligent/surprising…

Feel free to go back to the information above to fill in what you could not the first time around or use that
information to help with the work below

LISTENING
To start: You will hear the entire document once. Just relax and see what you can understand. No need to take
notes.
Then: You will hear the document in six sections (Part 1 to Part 6). You will hear each section two times. Try to
give the information in the exercises.
Finally: You will watch the video and check your answers as you listen before going over the key with your
teacher

Start: Entire document – 00:00 – 03:20 – just listen

Part 1 (03:21 – 05:18) – You will hear the extract from “This pulsating Slime Mold Comes in Peace” 2 times.
Listen and do the listening comprehension exercises below:

Part 1, Listening 1: Read the exercises below for “listening 1” before listening.
1. Aural discrimination: Read the sentences below. Try to identify the errors. As you listen, correct the
errors.

On these three rotting rotting tree trunks, something is alive... Correction: _____________________

They can send up light stand upright and produce spores… Correction: _____________________
 They’re not a fun guy fungi… Correction: _____________________

They spread a crust on across forests… Correction: _____________________

2. Write the end of the sentence:

- Each Slime mold is like one big cell
- And it moves in a very strange way

Part 1, Listening 2: Read the exercises below for “listening 2” before listening

1. According to the video, the following statements about Slime Mold are TRUE or FALSE
a. Like mushrooms and plants, they produce spores TRUE FALSE
b. They are animals that chase food in forests TRUE FALSE
c. They are not quite liquid and not quite solid TRUE FALSE
d. They cannot go from one place to another TRUE FALSE
e. They eat bacteria and mushrooms TRUE FALSE

2. From this extract you can deduce that Slime Mold is from the kingdom of: Protista

3. Challenge - you heard the synonym for “frontier” or “limit” and it is: boundary

Part 2 (05:18 – 06:33) – You will hear the first part of the video “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?” 2 times.
Listen and do the listening comprehension exercises below:
Part 2, Listening 1: Read the exercises below for “listening 1” before listening

1. Aural discrimination: Read the sentences below. Try to identify the errors. As you listen, correct the
errors.
…studying a former form of slime mold… Correction: _____________________
…slime molds of have fascinated scientists… Correction: _____________________
… the quickest route through amaze a maze to get it at some food… Correction: _____________________
…do more than just prefer more perform clever tricks… Correction: _____________________

Part 2, Listening 2: Read the exercises below for “listening 2” before listening

a. Write where Dr Mark Frikar works: Oxford University, England

b. Dr Mark Frikar works in a team of botanists and computer scientists.
c. TRUE or FALSE: Phycerium Polycephalum are very good at finding their way through a labyrinth to find food.
TRUE FALSE
Justify in your own words (French or English): ability to navigate the quickest route through a maze to get
at some food
Part 3 (06:44 – 07:39) – You will hear the second part of the video “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?” 2 times.
Listen and do the listening comprehension exercises below:
Part 3, Listening 1 and 2 : Read the exercises below before listening

Fill in the blanks below:

Here, Mark is recreating an experiment he worked on with colleagues at Tokyo University. A blob of slime mold

is surrounded with a pattern of oat flakes an irresistible treat for the slime mold. What happens next is recorded

by a time-lapse camera

Part 4 (07:34 – 08:51) – You will hear the third part of the video “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?” 2 times.
Listen and do the listening comprehension exercises below:
Part 4, Listening 1 and 2: Read the exercises below before listening

Write the sequencing of what happens with the slime mold by identifying the verbs:
First, the slime mold starts as this blob in the middle
Then it’s going to spread out and colonize the whole of the dish
trying to find all of the oat flakes that were positioned earlier
And then they connect each of the food resources
Last, some of those links would disappear and some would be strengthened

Part 5 (09:02 – 10:25) – You will hear the third part of the video “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?” 2 times.
Listen and do the listening comprehension exercises below:
Part 5, Listening 1: Read the exercises below for “listening 1” before listening. Choose the correct answers
Aural discrimination: Read the sentences below. Try to identify the errors. As you listen, correct the errors.
… on the majorities major cities around Tokyo… Correction: _____________________
… not just the slime mold exploring a run-down random distribution… Correction: _____________________
… trying to wipe map out the region around Tokyo Correction: _____________________
… the slime mold would correct connect all of those… Correction: _____________________
Part 5, Listening 2: Take notes on what you hear if necessary. Use the notes and what you have heard so far to
write a paragraph explaining what we see in the picture below.

Title: Slime mold network

Example text: In this experiment, oat flakes were deliberately distributed

around a central blob of slime mold. The central blob represented Tokyo.
The oat flakes represented major cities close-by. The slime mold explored
the distribution of oat flakes and connected all of them together. The way
in which slime mold connected these food resources was compared to the
real Tokyo rail network.

Central blob representing Tokyo oat flakes representing major cities

Slime mold connection between food sources

Part 6 (10:38 to end) – You will hear the third part of the video “Can Slime Mold Solve Mazes?” 2 times.
Listen and do the listening comprehension exercises below:
Part 6, Listening 1 and 2 : Read the exercises below before listening

1. When you compare the local Tokyo rail system and the network that the slime molds come up

with, the two designs are remarkably similar. In just a few hours the slime mold has done what

skilled engineers took years to achieve. It has found the most efficient way to link together multiple

locations - every bit as effective as the well-organized Tokyo rail system.

2. TRUE or FALSE: Slime mold has a brain that can calculate how to produce a network very similar to the
Tokyo rail system.
TRUE FALSE
Justify in your own words (French or English): slime mold doesn't have a brain or any way of
calculating…

And to finish… watch the video to verify your answers before looking at the key.