Researchers are understanding the food-seeking behavior of “slime mold”, a strange, single-celled organism, to trace the universe’s vast cosmic web, dark matter and all. Researchers have also developed a computer algorithm influenced by this unusual creature to try to trace the cosmic web. Researchers used the algorithm against a computer simulation of the growth of dark matter filaments in the universe. They succeeded to mimic a 3D map of the underlying cosmic web structure by implementing the algorithm to data containing the positions of 37,000 galaxies. Researchers believe the findings not only validate the structure of the cosmic web assumed by cosmological models, but they also give us a way to enhance our understanding of galaxy evolution.