8. It's Actually Inspired By Some Gross Old Slime Movies
That might be doing down the importance of Professor John Tyler Bonner's work somewhat. He wasn't in the business of B-movies starring sentient lumps of slime destroying towns, but in actual, rigorous biological study. Currently the professor of Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University at the grand old age of 94, he did some genuinely pioneering work. And genuinely disgusting-looking work. Bonner used cellular slime moulds to understand evolution and development of cells. Slime moulds are sort of like fungi, using spores to reproduce, but are part of their own corner of the animal kingdom. And they were a big influence on Orphan Black. In fact, the films look a lot like the teaser images and trailers that get released before each season... They're an influence in other ways, too. So much so that some of Bonner's films were screened for the cast and crew before they began shooting Orphan Black, to get a sense of the sort of science and ideas behind the series. Produced while he was an undergraduate, Bonner found that these slime moulds despite being brainless amobae seem to develop certain behaviours, and will return to each other if split apart. Sounds familiar...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
