Astronomy on Tap Flagstaff | Cosmoldogy: The Humble Slime Mold and the Search for Dark Matter

Join Lowell Observatory and Mother Road Brewing Co. on August 26th at 6:30pm for Astronomy on Tap! Listen to fascinating science talks, play trivia to win out-of-this-world prizes, and of course, enjoy Mother Road brews on tap.

This month’s speaker is April Meadows. She is the Dark Planetarium Specialist at Lowell Observatory and a Research Associate at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. In this presentation, she will be talking about dark matter, the Physarum slime mold, and the fascinating connections that exist between the large structures of the universe and the small structures that we can hold in the palm of our hand.

Dark matter is one of the most mysterious substances in the universe. Because of its elusive nature, it is notoriously difficult to find. But, what if there was something right here on Earth that could help uncover its hiding spots? That something may be physarum polycephalum, an acellular slime mold that has been used to solve mazes and design subway networks. Join April and the team of * cosmoldogists * that investigate the slime mold’s networking power to try uncovering the dark matter that lurks in between the galaxies of our Local Group.