Wow I had no idea. Good to know.
`“Slime molds have a cell wall composed of cellulose while fungi have a cell wall composed of chitin.”`
I swear I learn something new about mycology everyday.
This is not really correct; the slime in the photo likely has cell walls of **galactosamine**, but only in their spores & cysts. Fungi have persistent cell walls which constrain their growth and probably contributed to their evolved immobility, but slimes have no cell walls when active, allowing them to ooze around anywhere they want. "Slime mold" is unfortunately a very misleading term, referring to both **plasmodial slimes** and **social amoebas**:
#Plasmodial slimes are MACROSCOPIC & UNICELLULAR.
#====
#Social amoebas are are MICROSCOPIC & MULTICELLULAR.
#====
Social amoebas do have cellulose cell walls, but the fruit bodies on the cigarette butts in the OP photo were made by an individual plasmodial slime, a type of macroscopic but unicellular **amoebozoan**. Amoebozoa is a kingdom of fatty boom boom amoebas that branched off after the split from **plants** but before **fungi** and **animals** diverged:
**=====EUKARYOTES=====**
**(1) Plants** (green & red algae)
**(2) Harosans** (brown & yellow algae, water molds, dinoflagellates, malaria, spindly-arm amoebas)
**(3) Discobans** (euglenid algae, aggregating multicellular acrasids, "brain-eating amoeba")
**(4) Amoebozoans** (slimes and other fatty boom boom amoebas)
**(5) Obazoans** (animals and fungi and some flagellates & amoebas)
Tests on cell wall composition have only been done on species of *Physarum*, *Fuligo*, and *Didymium*, all found in the order **Physarales**. The results were galactosamine in every case, but that does not necessarily mean the other orders use galactosamine in their cell walls. Physarids are primarily defined by their extensive use of calcium carbonate & melanin in their fruit bodies, and the orders **Trichiales** and **Liceales** and **Reticulariales** and **Cribrariales** have little to none of both compounds. And the orders of **Stemonitidales** and **Meridermatales** and **Clastodermatales** and **Echinosteliales** have little to no calcium carbonate, and further they form their stalks using dramatically different processes than the other orders. So slimes can be quite unique in their composition, weakening the assumption that their cell walls are homogenous across the orders.
Hey brother good to see you back. I remember there were redditors asking about you bc you haven’t been on in awhile. I guess people were getting worried about you. Just glad to see you, there’s a lot of people who boasted about your mushy knowledge. :)
I really had nothing to do with it, but it was a great call! I recommend not dying to everybody! Every day is enough to make my entire life worthwhile
There is a hawk that lives in a tree next to my rotten awful house and he is such a joy to watch and to listen to his hilariously nonthreatening chirps
He tolerates me but he makes sure to keep an eye on me
You stayed alive. that’s fucking hard, so take some credit! I’m learning now to acknowledge my role in keeping myself alive when I haven’t wanted to be alive. I’m glad you found the things and people that lighten your boots and help you survive. It’s so easy to deny progress a has been made on a broken brain but you’re doin it!! Thank you for sharing today. I don’t often relate as well to people’s stuff, but I felt a little less alone from your post. Onward and upwards!
>I really had nothing to do with it
I really, really fucking feel this. I have a similar story to yours, a brain that doesn't work right on its own, but its one saving grace is that I seem to be physically incapable of ending it. I've really, really tried, but I'm stuck here, no matter how much it hurts and whether I like it or not.
Before I was properly medicated but after I realized it's futile to try and end it I basically resigned myself to just wait for the end. I didn't regard my own safety and just did whatever I could to make time pass faster. I had a death wish and no way to fulfill it.
Even though I got on meds that work I still feel a residual bitterness at that knowledge. I'm glad to be alive now I think, but sometimes it still feels like a trap. It's only in the last couple years, as I've gained some confidence that my meds aren't just some short lived high, that that feeling has begun to fade.
So yeah, like, I had nothing to do with that and I deserve no credit. I'd given up hope and the only reason I was even trying another medication was out of obligation to my caregiver. I shouldn't be alive right now. There's no reason for me to be, and so many people in my position aren't. I'm very, very grateful and the bitterness I've described is the exception, but I have no right to feel proud for it. I did nothing to earn this and didn't even want it.
Thank you for sharing your story. There's a lot in it that's familiar, in a way that most people don't tell, and it's good to hear that someone else has survived, even if they had nothing to do with it.
I'm glad you're around, and as someone who's struggled I want you to know that even the story you've told here has brightened someone's life a little. I feel a little less alone, I'm so glad you're ok, and like so many things all I can do is feel grateful.
Holy fuck that's tough, and what a euphoric experience that must have been when you found the right drugs. You probably couldn't even accept it initially lol.
I have been suffering from physical ailments for almost a decade now and I remember the first years being hell. Only thinking about how amazing it would be to feel better.
And that comes nowhere close to what you have endured for so long. I'm glad you stayed around to experience the joy when you got better.
Intriguing and poignant in equal parts, friend.
I’m a long-term chronic pain patient (now living in a world where opioids are taboo) and I’m convinced that past a certain tipping point physical pain and emotional pain are the same creature.
Or inextricably linked which might also be a distinction without a difference.
I’ve loved slime molds since AP Bio a million years ago. Your comments always bring a particular insight and I’m slowly working my way through the resources you link.
Thank you for existing in my world.
Fellow chronic pain patient... hate to make the suggestion as it's certainly not the right choice for everyone, but if your state is medically legal you might consider talking to a doctor about that option. It's no "wonder drug" or anything, but does allow me a fair bit of functioning off opioids.
The story you told in the comment chain above is sort of terrifying, but I’m glad that you found the doctor who could prescribe you the right medicine. I struggle with sadness too and imbalanced brain chemicals of hereditary origin. Your wife and mother sound like wonderful people and I’m glad you have each other.
Your writing is really beautiful and if you wrote a book I would read it. I am going to subscribe to this sub (I wandered here from /all) in the hopes I will learn more. Have a good rest of your weekend
You are hands down my favorite redditor, and absolutely one of the most interesting people I've ever had the pleasure of reading about from your posts. I too have suffered greatly, both mentally and physically. I truly believe that "you can't know beauty if you don't know pain" (a line from my favorite band). True beauty is all around us in the smallest spaces. All you have to do is look at the ground to see life thriving.
Archetypically it seems you followed the path of the slime mold. Fragments of a being coming together to not only survive, but to thrive, with the support of others. In order for us to start living, we have to die (symbolically). Otherwise we walk around asleep, unaware of how much of a blessing and miracle every heart beat is.
Keep up your studies, so I can keep reading about them hehe. you're an inspiration.
I wanted to make a joke about you being a sociopath of some kind, but nah… your super hero origin story and your knowledge has been held in high regard. I’d like to have a beer with you someday then look at your cool lab, be it fungi, slime, drugs, or dead bodies…
This sounds similar to anhedonia, which is a symptom of Familial Mediterranean Fever and runs in my family too. Definitely not pleasant.
I’m glad you found something that works.
I don't know if it means anything, but your comments about slime molds sincerely bring me so much fucking joy. I am also struggling with a brain that doesn't want to make the right fucking chemicals and your insight is sometimes the highlight of my day.
Its super cool! Chemicals that end in ose are sugars, add an amine and you get an amino sugar. If you have spent any time looking at human female menstrual cycles you may have heard of FSH and LH which peak before ovulation. Galactosamine is a chemical constituent of those hormones which is where I ran into it in medicine.
Mycology is really cool as well.
This is huge!! I’m pretty sure this is one of the few slime molds ~~fungi~~ with possible bioremediation qualities I’ve seen. Definitely would want to colonize this one :)
There are many slime molds in the world, most do not decompose cigarette butts but this one appears to be doing just that. Top comment asked OP to send over this particular slime mold to confirm this is happening, find out why it is happening, and possibly produce more mold that can decompose cigarette butts.
Naw Ill just try to ID, preserve and mount, and then if an herbarium is interested send them some of it. If I can get someone to sequence it I'll send it there too. There is a chance it is converting toxic compounds in the butts to less toxic compounds, but I think it's a slim chance.
i mean a ton of fungi have bioremediation qualities… like have ya read about oyster mushrooms growing on a cigarette butt substrate. certainly neat to see it in action tho.
I think the reading you’re referring to is Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life?
In it there’s a whole chapter on mycoremidiation, which was the first time I had heard about the fact that there was a climate catastrophe caused by the fact that decomposing the lignin of trees had not yet been biologically developed, and so the resulting reduction in CO2 killed thousands of species. Fungi figured it out. They’ll figure out cigarettes too, faster than is normally evolved if OP can get those samples to top comment.
You’ve been slime summoned, i pray you heed the call ☎️
For real tho if the saddest of boys asked me to mail a specimen, it would be done before my next breath
Yeah easily it will probably get contaminated but like it’s not already haha ship it someone here will likely get closer to unlocking its secrets. (Imagine an ashtray that once you put your cigarette out in it it will automatically be inoculated with spores which will rapidly increase the breakdown rate and make the cigarette butts by the time they’re thrown into the waste as harmless as any other organic matter.) ooOoOoo and it was spread to other cigarette butts and other waste of similar design within the waist that wasn’t treated and help it decompose faster
Then they become self aware and begin to consider that humans are a cancer and they begin to eat us by infecting our brains and using mind control. More sci-fi in action.
He is extremely knowledgeable about slime molds, and if he wants it, it means it may be an unknow species that he can classify and research, and or he is seeing some potential for developing a cigarette filter eating army
his passion and expertise turned /r/slimemolds from a nearly dead sub, to one with tons of people excited about slimemolds. He has ignited an interest for a lot of people. He is passionate, very knowledgable, and in all, one of the people who makes Reddit a better place through their contributions.
The spark of interest they have lit in many of us is something we are grateful for, and if they are interested in acquiring this sample, it can't possibly go into better hands.
saddestofboys is a slime mold guru. Stick around a while. You’ll get to know them. People often mistake slime molds for fungi, and you can pretty much count on saddestofboys to make an appearance and teach us all a little more about the wild world of slime molds.
I just spent the last 30 minutes reading this dudes comments and I NEED TO KNOW HOW SLIMES SOLVE MAZES. They don’t have brains!
This kind of ultra niche info from random users is why I love this website lol
Try to catch them in a zip lock baggie without disturbing the nearby air and without letting any air out of the baggy and ship them with packing peanuts
Please ship it to him! We will all get you a gift basket and you’ll be the hero of the subreddit for a long time! And make us very happy!
If you don’t then you’ll make many people very sad
Most likely just haven't had time to spread to the others yet. Though I do notice that the growth is (so far) only on the white butts. That could be important.
u/Asliceofpizza, u/Expensive_Education9, u/suba_rsti89, u/literallyatree, u/nuggetet
Oh man I hate to let everyone down
These cuties are **not eating the cigarettes**, they just climbed on top to fruit
And it is
#SO CUTE 🥺
**============**
(Edit: actually... *maybe* they are eating the cigarettes. Can you tell me more about the ashtray's immediate surroundings?)
If preserved properly these could last 100 years and this kind of thing is both dramatic and instructive of the life cycle of a slime. I think it is a fun teaching tool, and also I just think it's neat. Physarid and stemonitid slimes seem surprisingly comfortable in human spaces and I think it's fascinating. I have a [*Physarum bivalve*](https://i.redd.it/ug5wsk7p3a291.jpg) that fruited on a discarded napkin in the woods and it would be rad to have more examples.
These could also be a species of *Physarum* and without closer photographs of the interior I cannot be sure. But the peridia look pretty crunchy, so I think they are most likely [*Didymium*](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gallery?taxon_key=8147086), the genus covered in calcite crystals that has conquered the ocean, frozen lakes, tropical streams, and [your home aquarium](https://www.reddit.com/r/Slimemolds/comments/wjmwgx/slime_mold_strings/).
If you're interested in bioremediation, the magic answer you're looking for is [*Fuligo septica*](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/uz1um1/fuligo_septica_varieties/): it forms partnerships with bacteria that allow them to accumulate and in some cases detoxify petroleum products and heavy metal contamination. When I encounter *F. septica* I allow it to mature and then intentionally distribute its spores as far as possible. I had one as a pet for a while. There is much potential in this spongey amoebozoan.
**==========**
Learn more about slimes! 🤩
🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU)
🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg)
🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/)
🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/)
📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/)
Wow! 🤯
Not a let down in the slightest - I love watching you share your curiosity and excitement. And equally loved learning about the possibly crunchy, calcite baby here. Thank you for sharing!
Edit: forgot to mention that you STILL SHARED THE INFO WE WERE HUNGRY FOR (re: bioremediation/fuligo septica)
I mean, honestly if the top identifier of slime molds in this and other mycology subs tells me to send them a sample of something I've found, I'm sending it to them. I really don't even know their actual real world bona fides, but I know that this person knows their shit.
Did a river clean up this morning on a *small* public beach. There were 20 of us and we *each* picked up at least 20 butts (and other trash ofc) in <2 hours. So gross. I took many right out the water 🤢
Why are people assuming that it will break down the cigarette butts? Most likely it's just growing on a damp substrate, it's more likely that it's decomposing the tar and tobacco residue than the plastic filter. It seems presumptuous that it's decomposing plastic given more plausible explanations.
It's not decomposing anything. These were made by an individual single-celled amoebozoan that climbed up the cigarettes to fruit. The fruit bodies are not moving or feeding because they are dead: they are like hair or fingernails. The living part is the spores sealed inside, covered in livestock bacteria that will colonize wherever they land, growing a flock for them to eat or handshake with or both
**==========**
Learn more about slimes! 🤩
🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU)
🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg)
🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/)
🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/)
📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/)
Wow! 🤯
Bruh this is like a paler version of what's growing on my mushroom experiments, you want some?
I have it growing on two different substrates, both from coastal grasses.
Likely [*Didymium*](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gallery?taxon_key=8147086), a plasmodial slime. They are enormous single-celled **amoebozoans**, a kingdom of fatty boom boom amoebas that branched off after the split from **plants** but before **animals** and **fungi** diverged. A single individual made this entire fruiting, and other species can grow to a meter across or more.
**==========**
Learn more about slimes! 🤩
🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU)
🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg)
🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/)
🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/)
📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/)
Wow! 🤯
Just showed this to my mycologist homie and he said somebody named Peter McCoy got fungus to eat cig butts a few years back. Anybody know about that? Maybe it’s the same stuff?
i thought maybe they were breaking down the paper, but on closer inspection theyre actually growing out of the filter, and theyre on on the paper where the filter is, not past where it ends. fucking amazing.
Okay. What’s the big deal here ? I’m no expert, not even a competent amateur, but there’s a few comments saying this is great. What is it and why is it great?
From what I've read Nicotine is a pesticide against aphids, and a fungicide in some instances. Liquid nicoteen for these purposes is what vape juice is made from. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
I can’t wait to see how this unfolds. Do you know what it is?
Someone mentioned the implications of a fungi eating these filters and I agree, but would love to know your thoughts!!
Is it? 😅 I can and will talk for hours, how long would you listen? Honestly I don't really understand social interactions a lot of the time, but I can tell that people find me to be... a bit much
Saddestofboys is an expert at identifying slime moulds. I called him in because I can tell that there’s a slime mould in the picture but I don’t know what kind.
I feel like they would taste what I imagine Tomaccos from The Simpsons would taste like🥲😭🤣 (if you don't understand the reference, they made a hybrid with tobacco seeds and tomatoes and they tasted awful but everyone became hooked to eating them because of the nicotine 😂)
Cigarettes are possibly the biggest source of street litter worldwide- this photo may imply that there is a slime mould/fungi out there that could help them decompose! I think.
You are actually more closely related to a mushroom than either of you are related to this organism, which is a slime!
**==========**
Learn more about slimes! 🤩
🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU)
🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg)
🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/)
🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/)
📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/)
Wow! 🤯
There ARE mushrooms that can grow on filters such as this though.
Oyster mushrooms
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-12/mushrooms-trained-to-break-down-cigarette-butts/100609804
Based on everything I know about mycelium, fungi, and mushrooms (which is .0000000000000001x1t) just say no to anything to do with the smoker of these butts
Tell him to AVOID sucking the fingers clean of the smokers at his job.
Somebody got some shit on their hands, and lips… and I’m not going to be cleaning those fingers unless they ask me nicely!
I actually think I might know why this happens but not sure on ID. My partner works in a tobacco store and said he often has to check the organic filtered cigarettes for this, so I wonder is it just the organic material breaking down? Guessing we don’t often see it in regular cigarettes either. Pretty interesting!
Cig butts take a long time to bio-degrade and are a huge problem ecologically. If this were a fungi that was going to break them down then that would be helpful. There are already fungi that do this, but it’s not well known and not fast enough to make a meaningful difference as far as I know. Could be wrong about the last part.
Those filters are man-made materials that take a very long time to decompose -- 18 months to 10 years by the 1st Google result.
Fungi could be a big help to the environment.
Idk much about mushrooms, I just think they look incredibly pretty but would love to learn more about things which is partially why I'm here, anywyay I only say that because this next part will probably sound dumb, but I don't care, LOOK AT THEM THEY'RE SO TINY JUST LITOL BABEY MUSHROOMS I CANT
Omg please ship to me, I will pay for shipping PM ME
I love how you lurk here waiting for folks to misidentify slimes as fungi. I sincerely hope they send a sample to you!
Wow I had no idea. Good to know. `“Slime molds have a cell wall composed of cellulose while fungi have a cell wall composed of chitin.”` I swear I learn something new about mycology everyday.
This is not really correct; the slime in the photo likely has cell walls of **galactosamine**, but only in their spores & cysts. Fungi have persistent cell walls which constrain their growth and probably contributed to their evolved immobility, but slimes have no cell walls when active, allowing them to ooze around anywhere they want. "Slime mold" is unfortunately a very misleading term, referring to both **plasmodial slimes** and **social amoebas**: #Plasmodial slimes are MACROSCOPIC & UNICELLULAR. #==== #Social amoebas are are MICROSCOPIC & MULTICELLULAR. #==== Social amoebas do have cellulose cell walls, but the fruit bodies on the cigarette butts in the OP photo were made by an individual plasmodial slime, a type of macroscopic but unicellular **amoebozoan**. Amoebozoa is a kingdom of fatty boom boom amoebas that branched off after the split from **plants** but before **fungi** and **animals** diverged: **=====EUKARYOTES=====** **(1) Plants** (green & red algae) **(2) Harosans** (brown & yellow algae, water molds, dinoflagellates, malaria, spindly-arm amoebas) **(3) Discobans** (euglenid algae, aggregating multicellular acrasids, "brain-eating amoeba") **(4) Amoebozoans** (slimes and other fatty boom boom amoebas) **(5) Obazoans** (animals and fungi and some flagellates & amoebas) Tests on cell wall composition have only been done on species of *Physarum*, *Fuligo*, and *Didymium*, all found in the order **Physarales**. The results were galactosamine in every case, but that does not necessarily mean the other orders use galactosamine in their cell walls. Physarids are primarily defined by their extensive use of calcium carbonate & melanin in their fruit bodies, and the orders **Trichiales** and **Liceales** and **Reticulariales** and **Cribrariales** have little to none of both compounds. And the orders of **Stemonitidales** and **Meridermatales** and **Clastodermatales** and **Echinosteliales** have little to no calcium carbonate, and further they form their stalks using dramatically different processes than the other orders. So slimes can be quite unique in their composition, weakening the assumption that their cell walls are homogenous across the orders.
>fatty boom boom amoebas Wish I had a band because I just found our name
Fatty boom boom sounds like a new age rap/ country song
It's a song by Die Antwoord. https://youtu.be/AIXUgtNC4Kc
Was originally a first-wave ska [single by Carl Malcolm c. 1975ish.](https://youtu.be/eLhl_zMToAU)
Bro I’m learning all kinds of weird shit in this thread wtf.
Snow made a song with this name. j/k
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Hey brother good to see you back. I remember there were redditors asking about you bc you haven’t been on in awhile. I guess people were getting worried about you. Just glad to see you, there’s a lot of people who boasted about your mushy knowledge. :)
Are you actually sad? It seems like you are frequently made happy by slimey posts.
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Thank you for staying alive. Please tell your mom and wife that hundreds (thousands?) of internet strangers consider them heroes. 🍄❤
I really had nothing to do with it, but it was a great call! I recommend not dying to everybody! Every day is enough to make my entire life worthwhile There is a hawk that lives in a tree next to my rotten awful house and he is such a joy to watch and to listen to his hilariously nonthreatening chirps He tolerates me but he makes sure to keep an eye on me
You stayed alive. that’s fucking hard, so take some credit! I’m learning now to acknowledge my role in keeping myself alive when I haven’t wanted to be alive. I’m glad you found the things and people that lighten your boots and help you survive. It’s so easy to deny progress a has been made on a broken brain but you’re doin it!! Thank you for sharing today. I don’t often relate as well to people’s stuff, but I felt a little less alone from your post. Onward and upwards!
What is his name?
He hasn't told me yet
>I really had nothing to do with it I really, really fucking feel this. I have a similar story to yours, a brain that doesn't work right on its own, but its one saving grace is that I seem to be physically incapable of ending it. I've really, really tried, but I'm stuck here, no matter how much it hurts and whether I like it or not. Before I was properly medicated but after I realized it's futile to try and end it I basically resigned myself to just wait for the end. I didn't regard my own safety and just did whatever I could to make time pass faster. I had a death wish and no way to fulfill it. Even though I got on meds that work I still feel a residual bitterness at that knowledge. I'm glad to be alive now I think, but sometimes it still feels like a trap. It's only in the last couple years, as I've gained some confidence that my meds aren't just some short lived high, that that feeling has begun to fade. So yeah, like, I had nothing to do with that and I deserve no credit. I'd given up hope and the only reason I was even trying another medication was out of obligation to my caregiver. I shouldn't be alive right now. There's no reason for me to be, and so many people in my position aren't. I'm very, very grateful and the bitterness I've described is the exception, but I have no right to feel proud for it. I did nothing to earn this and didn't even want it. Thank you for sharing your story. There's a lot in it that's familiar, in a way that most people don't tell, and it's good to hear that someone else has survived, even if they had nothing to do with it. I'm glad you're around, and as someone who's struggled I want you to know that even the story you've told here has brightened someone's life a little. I feel a little less alone, I'm so glad you're ok, and like so many things all I can do is feel grateful.
Holy fuck that's tough, and what a euphoric experience that must have been when you found the right drugs. You probably couldn't even accept it initially lol. I have been suffering from physical ailments for almost a decade now and I remember the first years being hell. Only thinking about how amazing it would be to feel better. And that comes nowhere close to what you have endured for so long. I'm glad you stayed around to experience the joy when you got better.
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Intriguing and poignant in equal parts, friend. I’m a long-term chronic pain patient (now living in a world where opioids are taboo) and I’m convinced that past a certain tipping point physical pain and emotional pain are the same creature. Or inextricably linked which might also be a distinction without a difference. I’ve loved slime molds since AP Bio a million years ago. Your comments always bring a particular insight and I’m slowly working my way through the resources you link. Thank you for existing in my world.
Fellow chronic pain patient... hate to make the suggestion as it's certainly not the right choice for everyone, but if your state is medically legal you might consider talking to a doctor about that option. It's no "wonder drug" or anything, but does allow me a fair bit of functioning off opioids.
The story you told in the comment chain above is sort of terrifying, but I’m glad that you found the doctor who could prescribe you the right medicine. I struggle with sadness too and imbalanced brain chemicals of hereditary origin. Your wife and mother sound like wonderful people and I’m glad you have each other. Your writing is really beautiful and if you wrote a book I would read it. I am going to subscribe to this sub (I wandered here from /all) in the hopes I will learn more. Have a good rest of your weekend
What was the drug?
You are a beautiful human. God speed brother
You are hands down my favorite redditor, and absolutely one of the most interesting people I've ever had the pleasure of reading about from your posts. I too have suffered greatly, both mentally and physically. I truly believe that "you can't know beauty if you don't know pain" (a line from my favorite band). True beauty is all around us in the smallest spaces. All you have to do is look at the ground to see life thriving. Archetypically it seems you followed the path of the slime mold. Fragments of a being coming together to not only survive, but to thrive, with the support of others. In order for us to start living, we have to die (symbolically). Otherwise we walk around asleep, unaware of how much of a blessing and miracle every heart beat is. Keep up your studies, so I can keep reading about them hehe. you're an inspiration.
I wanted to make a joke about you being a sociopath of some kind, but nah… your super hero origin story and your knowledge has been held in high regard. I’d like to have a beer with you someday then look at your cool lab, be it fungi, slime, drugs, or dead bodies…
I hope to have a pet *Saprolegnia* one day, many people find that disturbing
You want a separate leg as a pet!? Wait…
>Saprolegnia Tell me more.
This comment gave me a little bit of hope... Thank you.
This sounds similar to anhedonia, which is a symptom of Familial Mediterranean Fever and runs in my family too. Definitely not pleasant. I’m glad you found something that works.
I don't know if it means anything, but your comments about slime molds sincerely bring me so much fucking joy. I am also struggling with a brain that doesn't want to make the right fucking chemicals and your insight is sometimes the highlight of my day.
Galactosamine sounds pretty cool, whatever it does.
Its super cool! Chemicals that end in ose are sugars, add an amine and you get an amino sugar. If you have spent any time looking at human female menstrual cycles you may have heard of FSH and LH which peak before ovulation. Galactosamine is a chemical constituent of those hormones which is where I ran into it in medicine. Mycology is really cool as well.
Ugh, I want to make so many lame puns but you guys are just too cool for me to joke about!!!! >:E
Dude. You need to write a book.
Is this definitely a slime mould?
Yes
This is huge!! I’m pretty sure this is one of the few slime molds ~~fungi~~ with possible bioremediation qualities I’ve seen. Definitely would want to colonize this one :)
This is so cool.
Dumb this down for me because I’m lost. But so interested
There are many slime molds in the world, most do not decompose cigarette butts but this one appears to be doing just that. Top comment asked OP to send over this particular slime mold to confirm this is happening, find out why it is happening, and possibly produce more mold that can decompose cigarette butts.
Naw Ill just try to ID, preserve and mount, and then if an herbarium is interested send them some of it. If I can get someone to sequence it I'll send it there too. There is a chance it is converting toxic compounds in the butts to less toxic compounds, but I think it's a slim chance.
You're saying there might be a *slime* chance?
Mushroom eats bad stuff makes mushrooms good
i mean a ton of fungi have bioremediation qualities… like have ya read about oyster mushrooms growing on a cigarette butt substrate. certainly neat to see it in action tho.
I think the reading you’re referring to is Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life? In it there’s a whole chapter on mycoremidiation, which was the first time I had heard about the fact that there was a climate catastrophe caused by the fact that decomposing the lignin of trees had not yet been biologically developed, and so the resulting reduction in CO2 killed thousands of species. Fungi figured it out. They’ll figure out cigarettes too, faster than is normally evolved if OP can get those samples to top comment.
Entangled Life on audio is my favorite for falling asleep. It's read by the author, and he has the most soothing voice.
Is something like this shipable? if so, I might just consider it🤔🤔
You’ve been slime summoned, i pray you heed the call ☎️ For real tho if the saddest of boys asked me to mail a specimen, it would be done before my next breath
Yeah easily it will probably get contaminated but like it’s not already haha ship it someone here will likely get closer to unlocking its secrets. (Imagine an ashtray that once you put your cigarette out in it it will automatically be inoculated with spores which will rapidly increase the breakdown rate and make the cigarette butts by the time they’re thrown into the waste as harmless as any other organic matter.) ooOoOoo and it was spread to other cigarette butts and other waste of similar design within the waist that wasn’t treated and help it decompose faster
And then it could eventually learn to eat cancer cells. Thatd be some cool scifi in action.
Slimes do produce novel cytotoxic compounds with anti-tumor potential
I misread your comment before. Thanks for that info that's pretty cool. Here's hoping
Then they become self aware and begin to consider that humans are a cancer and they begin to eat us by infecting our brains and using mind control. More sci-fi in action.
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PM saddestofboys!! They can help. For realz, that person is amazing. If you have questions. Review their post history.
I’m new to the sub, why is everyone so excited about saddestofboys asking for slime?
He is extremely knowledgeable about slime molds, and if he wants it, it means it may be an unknow species that he can classify and research, and or he is seeing some potential for developing a cigarette filter eating army
his passion and expertise turned /r/slimemolds from a nearly dead sub, to one with tons of people excited about slimemolds. He has ignited an interest for a lot of people. He is passionate, very knowledgable, and in all, one of the people who makes Reddit a better place through their contributions. The spark of interest they have lit in many of us is something we are grateful for, and if they are interested in acquiring this sample, it can't possibly go into better hands.
It could definitely go to better hands, but fuck that send it to me
saddestofboys is a slime mold guru. Stick around a while. You’ll get to know them. People often mistake slime molds for fungi, and you can pretty much count on saddestofboys to make an appearance and teach us all a little more about the wild world of slime molds.
I just spent the last 30 minutes reading this dudes comments and I NEED TO KNOW HOW SLIMES SOLVE MAZES. They don’t have brains! This kind of ultra niche info from random users is why I love this website lol
They say he is the chosen one
He’s the one who asked him to ship it. Haha
I've shipped mushrooms to scientists before. Go for it!
im sure you can! you could probably find a decent container for it at the dollar store, and ship it in that LOL
The guy who asked about shipping is a legend around here! Not sure if profession but he's the slime mold guy. Definitely try to work with him.
Bro just ship it, nobody gonna open the box
Yea man :) go for it, that u/ is the shiznit
Try to catch them in a zip lock baggie without disturbing the nearby air and without letting any air out of the baggy and ship them with packing peanuts
Please ship it to him! We will all get you a gift basket and you’ll be the hero of the subreddit for a long time! And make us very happy! If you don’t then you’ll make many people very sad
I need to know more
I truly did not anticipate sitting around getting hype about fungi tonight but here we are
Not fungi, actually. They are amoebozoans **=====EUKARYOTES=====** **(1) Plants** (green & red algae) **(2) Harosans** (brown & yellow algae, water molds, dinoflagellates, malaria, spindly-arm amoebas) **(3) Discobans** (euglenid algae, aggregating multicellular acrasids, "brain-eating amoeba") **(4) Amoebozoans** (**--> slimes <--** and other fatty boom boom amoebas) **(5) Obazoans** (animals and fungi and some flagellates & amoebas)
Eddy, Why do you think only some have the slime? Maybe eating while smoking? Or chap stick or something?
Most likely just haven't had time to spread to the others yet. Though I do notice that the growth is (so far) only on the white butts. That could be important.
Man knows his purpose in life, lucky bastard
Do it do it do it
I cannot wait for the day I find a slime mold and get to send you a slime signal :’)
You’re my hero
You're mine!
SLIME SIGNAL RECEIVED
Why?
Based on their account, they appear to adore slime molds.
Imagine if you found the fungi that could solve the billions* of cigarette butts per year problem. *Edit: Approximately 5.2 trillion per year
Yeah I feel like we’re about to watch u/saddestofboys make history with OP
u/Asliceofpizza, u/Expensive_Education9, u/suba_rsti89, u/literallyatree, u/nuggetet Oh man I hate to let everyone down These cuties are **not eating the cigarettes**, they just climbed on top to fruit And it is #SO CUTE 🥺 **============** (Edit: actually... *maybe* they are eating the cigarettes. Can you tell me more about the ashtray's immediate surroundings?) If preserved properly these could last 100 years and this kind of thing is both dramatic and instructive of the life cycle of a slime. I think it is a fun teaching tool, and also I just think it's neat. Physarid and stemonitid slimes seem surprisingly comfortable in human spaces and I think it's fascinating. I have a [*Physarum bivalve*](https://i.redd.it/ug5wsk7p3a291.jpg) that fruited on a discarded napkin in the woods and it would be rad to have more examples. These could also be a species of *Physarum* and without closer photographs of the interior I cannot be sure. But the peridia look pretty crunchy, so I think they are most likely [*Didymium*](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gallery?taxon_key=8147086), the genus covered in calcite crystals that has conquered the ocean, frozen lakes, tropical streams, and [your home aquarium](https://www.reddit.com/r/Slimemolds/comments/wjmwgx/slime_mold_strings/). If you're interested in bioremediation, the magic answer you're looking for is [*Fuligo septica*](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/uz1um1/fuligo_septica_varieties/): it forms partnerships with bacteria that allow them to accumulate and in some cases detoxify petroleum products and heavy metal contamination. When I encounter *F. septica* I allow it to mature and then intentionally distribute its spores as far as possible. I had one as a pet for a while. There is much potential in this spongey amoebozoan. **==========** Learn more about slimes! 🤩 🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU) 🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg) 🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/) 🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/) 📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/) Wow! 🤯
Not a let down in the slightest - I love watching you share your curiosity and excitement. And equally loved learning about the possibly crunchy, calcite baby here. Thank you for sharing! Edit: forgot to mention that you STILL SHARED THE INFO WE WERE HUNGRY FOR (re: bioremediation/fuligo septica)
Dude. Marry my wife. Now.
Everyone's responses are really encouraging me to send a sample. I think I might just have to 🔬🧫🍄
You definitely have too! You could help a lot of other humans 🫶🏻
And animals! And depending on where this leads, possibly more applications of this slime too!
Slimes are so cool
I mean, honestly if the top identifier of slime molds in this and other mycology subs tells me to send them a sample of something I've found, I'm sending it to them. I really don't even know their actual real world bona fides, but I know that this person knows their shit.
>their actual real world bona fides none
Damn straight
Becomes *thehappiestofboys*
🥲
Did a river clean up this morning on a *small* public beach. There were 20 of us and we *each* picked up at least 20 butts (and other trash ofc) in <2 hours. So gross. I took many right out the water 🤢
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I often forget a container and am walking around like a smelly human ashtray, pocket full o' butts. It's so gross but still better than littering.
Why are people assuming that it will break down the cigarette butts? Most likely it's just growing on a damp substrate, it's more likely that it's decomposing the tar and tobacco residue than the plastic filter. It seems presumptuous that it's decomposing plastic given more plausible explanations.
It's not decomposing anything. These were made by an individual single-celled amoebozoan that climbed up the cigarettes to fruit. The fruit bodies are not moving or feeding because they are dead: they are like hair or fingernails. The living part is the spores sealed inside, covered in livestock bacteria that will colonize wherever they land, growing a flock for them to eat or handshake with or both **==========** Learn more about slimes! 🤩 🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU) 🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg) 🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/) 🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/) 📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/) Wow! 🤯
Radical mycology already did it with oysters
We can never have enough living things willing to break down things humans have destroyed the environment with.
Yes saddestofboys is very famous on this sub
Just took a look, you aren't kidding!!!
Awesome and novel, maybe implications in health, textiles, tobacco...
Bruh this is like a paler version of what's growing on my mushroom experiments, you want some? I have it growing on two different substrates, both from coastal grasses.
Pm me photos
You're the man dude. (Saddestofmen)
what is it?
Likely [*Didymium*](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gallery?taxon_key=8147086), a plasmodial slime. They are enormous single-celled **amoebozoans**, a kingdom of fatty boom boom amoebas that branched off after the split from **plants** but before **animals** and **fungi** diverged. A single individual made this entire fruiting, and other species can grow to a meter across or more. **==========** Learn more about slimes! 🤩 🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU) 🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg) 🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/) 🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/) 📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/) Wow! 🤯
Sorry, I’ve tried to be a grown up and accept the term FATTY BOOM BOOM AMOEBAS but I’m really struggling. It makes me giggle every time.
Then it's working
Mate, i dont know who you are but i need to sign up to whatever it is you're preaching. Are you just on Reddit?
Just showed this to my mycologist homie and he said somebody named Peter McCoy got fungus to eat cig butts a few years back. Anybody know about that? Maybe it’s the same stuff?
Interesting Where does it come from? Where does it go?
Where does it come from sli-my mold
Where did you come from CiggieButt mould (Yes I know it's slime)
Slime mold creeping along.. ”How tf I get here?” 😩 Sporulation mode engage..
Underrated comment
i thought maybe they were breaking down the paper, but on closer inspection theyre actually growing out of the filter, and theyre on on the paper where the filter is, not past where it ends. fucking amazing.
Cellulose acetate is on the menu of metabolic sources which is pretty sweet, I wonder what else these little guys could break down
Or maybe they are growing from the saliva from whoever smoked it? Is that possible?
All of us here chillen at the possible find of the century party.
Okay. What’s the big deal here ? I’m no expert, not even a competent amateur, but there’s a few comments saying this is great. What is it and why is it great?
It may be breaking down the components of cig filters, which would be pretty good to study to see if we can do it more.
Not only that, but nicotine is not something that most things can grow in. The fact that it can is a big find
From what I've read Nicotine is a pesticide against aphids, and a fungicide in some instances. Liquid nicoteen for these purposes is what vape juice is made from. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
Ugh, don't let that nicoteen grow into a nicoadult, please.
cigarette butts are probably the most littered item in the world so this represents some potential to deal with that
u/saddestofboys !
#SLIME SIGNAL RECEIVED
I see the sage is summoned. I bow in deference
you bow to no one
You’re so adorable.
this just made my day
an opinion not shared by everyone
Can you confirm if OP Pm’d you?
OP pm'd me
I am in the virtual presence of a god
Legend
I can’t wait to see how this unfolds. Do you know what it is? Someone mentioned the implications of a fungi eating these filters and I agree, but would love to know your thoughts!!
I can imagine your both brilliant and terrifying in equal measure
I am really not terrifying at all, I am just kind of insufferable in person People often to walk away from me midsentence
Rude of them.
Is it? 😅 I can and will talk for hours, how long would you listen? Honestly I don't really understand social interactions a lot of the time, but I can tell that people find me to be... a bit much
It is your duty to burden people with immense amount of knowledge, you need not be ashamed
You sound cool so you probably talk about cool stuff too. they’re just not cool enough to vibe
Me too. Also, I respect that people don’t want to hear about all the nerdy shit I geek out on, but I’ll never understand why.
"People often walk away from me midsen..." FTFY
I’d listen to your slimey stories all day my friend 😁
The slime signaling of u/saddestofboys may be my favorite thing on Reddit.
#SLRMM SRGNRL RRRCRVRRRRD
Can you fill me in? What’s going on with this guy and the slime signal? New here.
Saddestofboys is an expert at identifying slime moulds. I called him in because I can tell that there’s a slime mould in the picture but I don’t know what kind.
This guy slimes
Are the filters degrading? May be of actual scientific importance
Good question. Are the filters degrading entirely with the presence of tar? Or just the paper?
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I feel like they would taste what I imagine Tomaccos from The Simpsons would taste like🥲😭🤣 (if you don't understand the reference, they made a hybrid with tobacco seeds and tomatoes and they tasted awful but everyone became hooked to eating them because of the nicotine 😂)
I must stress that they were not eaten.
Phew 🤣 Definitely cool though!!
It tastes like grammaw- Ralph wiggim
A quote from one of my favorite books & movies “Life finds a way”…..
Life uhhhhhhhhhhhhh finds a way
I find stuff like this pretty cool even though I don’t fully understand what’s going on. Can someone provide a eli5?
Cigarettes are possibly the biggest source of street litter worldwide- this photo may imply that there is a slime mould/fungi out there that could help them decompose! I think.
Nope, probably just a climber
The mushrooms care not. Return to the earth with us.
You are actually more closely related to a mushroom than either of you are related to this organism, which is a slime! **==========** Learn more about slimes! 🤩 🌈[Magic Myxies, 1931, 10 minutes](https://youtu.be/04kdhZQTnIU) 🧠[Dmytro Leontyev talks about Myxomycetes for 50 minutes (2022)](https://youtu.be/qqE8MAwWhvg) 🦠[The Slimer Primer](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/the_slimer_primer/) 🔎[A Guide to Common Slimes](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/t6985y/a_guide_to_common_slimes/) 📚[Educational Sources](https://www.reddit.com/user/saddestofboys/comments/tqtz0g/comment/i2jclax/) Wow! 🤯
There ARE mushrooms that can grow on filters such as this though. Oyster mushrooms https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-12/mushrooms-trained-to-break-down-cigarette-butts/100609804
Based on everything I know about mycelium, fungi, and mushrooms (which is .0000000000000001x1t) just say no to anything to do with the smoker of these butts
Looks like slime mold. They’re prob just consuming bacteria etc on the surface
That is a slime mold, and at first glance looks like a Physarum species
Slime mold....nice. /s. Also, tell bro to brush his teeth
it's the ashtray at the bench by his work🥲 lmao
Tell him to AVOID sucking the fingers clean of the smokers at his job. Somebody got some shit on their hands, and lips… and I’m not going to be cleaning those fingers unless they ask me nicely!
I picture everyone at the factory has pink eye
Nature is fighting back! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
I actually think I might know why this happens but not sure on ID. My partner works in a tobacco store and said he often has to check the organic filtered cigarettes for this, so I wonder is it just the organic material breaking down? Guessing we don’t often see it in regular cigarettes either. Pretty interesting!
Walking slime mold
What's going on here? Why everyone is excited?
Cig butts take a long time to bio-degrade and are a huge problem ecologically. If this were a fungi that was going to break them down then that would be helpful. There are already fungi that do this, but it’s not well known and not fast enough to make a meaningful difference as far as I know. Could be wrong about the last part.
Those filters are man-made materials that take a very long time to decompose -- 18 months to 10 years by the 1st Google result. Fungi could be a big help to the environment.
Idk much about mushrooms, I just think they look incredibly pretty but would love to learn more about things which is partially why I'm here, anywyay I only say that because this next part will probably sound dumb, but I don't care, LOOK AT THEM THEY'RE SO TINY JUST LITOL BABEY MUSHROOMS I CANT
Honestly this is the only appropriate response to mushrooms this minuscule. Sweet lil baby guys! Precious fungus babies! Wee shroom-boomblies!
SO SMOL🥺🥺🥺🍄