A Slime Mold Called Le Blob

Justine Dees
Nov 5 · 14 min read

“Le blob” is what French researcher Dr. Audrey Dussutour calls the creatures she grows in her lab. She drew inspiration from “The Blob,” a 1958 American horror movie starring Steven McQueen about a giant alien from space that eats people and grows uncontrollably. It reminded her of her slime molds, minus the eating people part. Oh, and being an alien. Well, some folks have thought slime molds were aliens, but I’m getting ahead of myself. After Dr. Dussutour started using the name “le blob” for her slime molds, it caught on so much that now (almost) everyone calls them “le blob” or “the blob.” Naturally…

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