Shelled #amoeba crawls like an octopus, shifting tactics on the go https://phys.org/news/2026-01-shelled-amoeba-octopus-shifting-tactics.html https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/pjab/advpub/0/advpub_pjab.102.001/_html/-char/en

"Commonly found in #peatlands and freshwater environments, #Arcella belongs to a group called testate #amoebae, characterized by having its body enclosed, almost entirely, within a dome-shaped shell... Through an opening on its underside, Arcella can mold its cell body to create finger-like projections called #pseudopodia to capture prey and move around."

#Protists #Microbes

A slime mold can solve mazes, even though it doesn't have a brain. When placed in a maze with a food source at the end, it will naturally navigate the shortest path to reach the food by extending its protrusions (pseudopodia) into all possible directions, effectively "solving" the maze.

#science #sciencefacts #slimemold #mazes #solvepuzzles #pseudopodia

Foraminiferal Christmas cards https://paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2022/12/23/christmas-edition-foraminiferal-christmas-cards/ #protists #forams #sciart by @Ferwen

"During the early decades of the 20th-century, Arthur Earland and Edward Heron-Allen were #volunteers at the #NaturalHistoryMuseum. They both studied #Foraminifera, a group of single celled #protozoa with shells of different composition and granuloreticulose #pseudopodia. Each #Christmas, Earland and Heron-Allen exchanged unusual but beautiful #ChristmasCards made with foraminifera."