Strange yellow creature – sometimes blue, pink or white – with the appearance of an omelette, the blob has been all the buzz for a few months for its appearance, but especially for its funny abilities! In France, the National Center for Scientific Research launched on Thursday, October 21, 2021 a large-scale study during which it selected 10,000 volunteers to host a blob at home and observe its development. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet even took one with him during his stay in the International Space Station in 2021 to study its adaptation to weightlessness!

The blob is really surprising: it advances by 1 cm per hour and can extend up to 108 sq ft! In the 18th century, scientists assumed that living beings were either animals or plants, and thus classified our blob in the plant family. Two centuries later, they finally classified it in the – newly discovered – fungus kingdom. But since the 1970s, the debate has continued. Blobs feed through phagocytosis, while fungi feed through absorption.  

After having been classified for a while as a protist, a catch-all term that encompasses all unclassifiable creatures, it is now considered to be a member of the species of myxomycetes, which group together large cells filled with nuclei and which form these strange gelatinous masses that move.

Although it has no brain, the blob is surprisingly intelligent: it can solve problems, such as finding its way through a maze and remembering the route, and is capable of memorizing which foods are good for it. The blob is much smarter than it looks! Interested children can dive into learning about this creature through our the Blob activity for kids.