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'Slim r.AIINIKSVIMR Fla (AP) ? They look like melted pints of vanilla ice cream and have a pretty primitive sex life ? but slime molds may hold the clues to the origin of human lif*? a TTnivprcifv nf PlnriHa AIA 14 V/1AA VA UA VJ V* JL AVA A Vtt4 microbiologist says. Henry Aldrich, director of the school's electron microscope lab, and six graduate researchers are studying nearly 500 species of slime mold. The researchers are observing slime molds' primitive form of sexual reproduc tion. Slime molds are actually colonies of single cells generally found growing on damp soil, rotting logs and other decaying organic material. Aldrich said they were common to Florida's moist woods where they looked like glistening, viscous masses of slime. 'The slime molds tell us how cells become tissues, how thev stick together and cooperate with each other," Aldrich said. 4'By studying their behavior in a controlled environment, we hope to discover more about human cells and how they stick together." Slime molds measure up to four inches wide and their average lifetime is four months, but some species have lived since | BODY E S@ 1801 Mi Colum Tel< iy' clues 1960 in a lab at University of Wisconsin Madison, said Aldrich. "With proper food a climate, I don't see why I molds couldn't li forever," Aldrich sa 4'Year after year they coi eat bacteria, reoroducea do everything good slii molds do." Aldrich said slime mo had got out of hand ( spring morning in Texas years ago when they V begun crawling over i landscape, up teleph( poles and on the sides houses. He said lo< newspapers called I slime molds the "Tej Blob." "When there are m( weather conditions, mnlHc will armi; nut A ilV'AUO fT AAA V/ TT UUl control," Aldrich sa "They move perceptit creeping along three or f< inches an hour, which is f for a blob of cells." The microbiologist s slime molds were hunj creatures whose favoi foods were oatmeal flak A r* M rl aitam V\r uatici m auu even uc food. 'They're quite fond baby food," he said. "1 we prefer feeding th | bacteria because baby fi [ isn't good for their growt He said samples of sli | molds were brought to 1 lab where thev were fro WAVE 1 Centra aim Street/Jefferson San; , . ? -1 ? bia, South Carolina 292( ephone: (803) 779-8325 REDKEN" to life nt. 1: ; j -i" . _i?_. ?-**<= wiui nquia nurogen, suet at thinly and placed on a slid The individual cell is th< nd magnified 300,000 times ar the examined through tl ve fluorescent screen of i id. electron microscope. jld .nd me >ne >ist >iy, nunnnp 3ur ^ aid ?ry :es, iby of But ^mSSSmBS khsi ;n HHpHpHRN id ic in IPV* RE^ftU^N? ^I (Tlonday & Tue flCROPO Wednesday & Th EVENSOI Fridau & Satui ROUND HC er charge befor< iday Ladies Fre< THE FLYIN BURITO BROl coming fTlarch L - advance tic H^on sale no> . l''-f7-\2-r;f j^ 2 1 r" VT,^*4<?-*^k %T ' ' " ' ' H ESggwWff# ^;11M s:*l JiiBilii! ' BHIIiiPB r -' - iBB lK| ' iHi^> K^ ft F#p a a mr?qM? .OUNCE sday W LIS WM ursdcxy N<j rday >USE ? 9 (Tlon.-Thurs. ? Beer - w ^ JrTTJ I IjSlilS !S^V ^^8WMgiK>@ ?/? ; <s fctv# s ^m?*ill## m^l 5 #& ffifii >4<? m ' it&M >N.^ 4\)^ ': % . x .'. N nore Sjhr?| Sent nesst 1: : Him*