Slime mould electronic oscillators

• We experimentally implement living electronic oscillator from slime mould.
• A protoplasmic tube of the slime mould exhibits oscillations of resistance.
• When direct current applied to a protoplasmic tube the tube produces periodic waveforms.
• Physarum oscillator is stable, accurate and adjustable.

We construct electronic oscillator from acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum. The slime mould oscillator is made of two electrodes connected by a protoplasmic tube of the living slime mould. A protoplasmic tube has an average resistance of 3 MOhm. The tube’s resistance is changing over time due to peristaltic contractile activity of the tube. The resistance of the protoplasmic tube oscillates with average period of 73 s and average amplitude of 0.6 MOhm. We present experimental laboratory results on dynamics of Physarum oscillator under direct current voltage up to 15 V and speculate that slime mould P. polycephalum can be employed as a living electrical oscillator in biological and hybrid circuits.

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