Is this a real simulation technique?

Yes — it's a well-known agent-based model (sense-and-deposit trail following) used in real research to reproduce Physarum slime mold behavior.

Does real slime mold actually build networks like this?

Yes — real Physarum polycephalum has famously reproduced efficient real-world transit maps in lab experiments using this same sense-and-trail mechanism.

No — it's a pure local computation.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Physarum Network Screensaver

This screensaver runs a real agent-based Physarum polycephalum simulation — thousands of simple particles that sense and follow a trail field they themselves deposit. With no map, plan or central control, the swarm self-organizes into efficient, branching, vein-like transport networks live.

How the Physarum Network screensaver works

Thousands of simple agents move across a shared trail field, each one sensing the trail strength just ahead, slightly left, and slightly right.

Each agent steers toward whichever direction has the strongest nearby trail, then deposits its own trail as it moves — real positive feedback with no central coordinator.

The shared trail field slowly fades and diffuses each frame, so only trails that are continually reinforced by many agents survive.

Over time this simple feedback loop — the same one real slime molds use to forage — self-organizes into efficient branching networks that resemble real fungal or vascular structures.

A worked example

Watch faint scattered trails thicken into a handful of dominant branching veins within a couple of minutes, as weaker paths fade out and agents increasingly concentrate onto the strongest routes — exactly the network-optimizing behavior real Physarum exhibits in lab mazes.

Settings & tips

Agent count trades density of the network for performance — fewer agents settle faster.
Trail color recolours the deposited network.
The trail field periodically fades and reseeds so the network keeps evolving rather than freezing.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a real simulation technique?: Yes — it's a well-known agent-based model (sense-and-deposit trail following) used in real research to reproduce Physarum slime mold behavior.
Does real slime mold actually build networks like this?: Yes — real Physarum polycephalum has famously reproduced efficient real-world transit maps in lab experiments using this same sense-and-trail mechanism.
Is a key needed?: No — it's a pure local computation.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

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