Trick or Treat Month: Slime with Alexis Nikole Nelson!

Trick or Treat Month returns... and this time it's personal! Join us for another month of spooky themes and special surprise guest apparitions! Try not to get too scared!

And so we close the ancient, flesh-bound spell book on another Trick or Treat Month... but we're going out on top, baby! Alexis Nikole Nelson has appeared, as if by magic, to lead us into the deep, dark woods and point out all the slimy, sticky, gross stuff on the ground that she says we can eat. I guess I trust her! 

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While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[This or That]

Round 1 - Blue glowing slime

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/tube-worm-slime-displays-long-lasting-self-powered-glow

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5103273/

Round 2 - Eating parents’ slime

https://animalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42523-023-00243-x

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/caecilians-limbless-amphibian-skin-feeding-young-cloaca

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101029104603.htm

https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pmic.200500591

Round 3 - Snottites

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3246232/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/see-the-ugly-beauty-that-lives-in-a-toxic-cave

Round 4 - Mating plug

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/218/9/1410/14572/Size-dependence-in-non-sperm-ejaculate-production

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005596707591

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564092/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mrd.22689

[Trivia Tiebreaker]

Hagfish slime on road

https://www.southernfriedscience.com/your-car-has-just-been-crushed-by-hagfish-frequently-asked-questions/

[Ask the Science Couch]

Slime molds and biocomputers

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/physarum-polycephalum

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55749-9

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5755296/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12668-014-0156-3

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23713-slime-mould-could-make-memristors-for-biocomputers/

https://techhq.com/2023/04/biocomputers-an-alternative-to-quantum-computing/

[Butt One More Thing]

Bird nestling fecal sac / mucus membrane 

https://www.audubon.org/news/what-are-fecal-sacs-bird-diapers-basically

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jav.00353