www.princeton.edu...'The 'sultan of slime': Biologist continues to be fascinated by organisms after nearly 70 years of study
Where others see dirt, John Bonner sees beauty.Where others see jumbled clumps, he sees highly sophisticated organization. At age 89, Bonner, the George M. Moffett Professor Emeritus of Biology, is one of the world's leading experts on cellular slime molds, found in soils the world over. He has led the way in making "Dictyostelium discoideum" a model organism central to examining some of the major questions in experimental biology. Science magazine describes him as "the current patriarch of the slime mold community."/nHe has made them the subject of his latest book -- his 18th -- called "The Social Amoebae: The Biology of Cellular Slime Molds." Published by Princeton University Press, it gives a detailed history of his "beloved slime molds," showing where they fit into biology and how they may illuminate that vast subject. He intends it as "an essay on the big things we have learned."/nWhat is it about this slimy, ground-dwelling critter that has captivated Bonner for nearly 70 years? /nSlime molds are "no more than a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath," Bonner said. "Yet they manage to have various behaviors that are equal to those of animals who possess muscles and nerves with ganglia -- that is, simple brains."/nBut they are not animals, or fungi, bacteria or plants. They belong to the fifth kingdom of life, the one least understood by scientists, known as Protists.

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