February 13, 2026
Goo-goo for goo
Particle Lenia
Adopt adorable on‑screen blobs… but some say it feels a little “germy”
TLDR: Particle Lenia lets you spawn, “save,” and revive squirmy on‑screen creatures by simple drag‑and‑drop, turning your browser into a playful mini‑zoo. The standout reaction: delight mixed with “ew,” as commenters joke about sterilizing their phones while debating whether this is cozy science fun or unsettling, germ‑core vibes.
Meet Particle Lenia, the browser toy turning your screen into a cute little petri dish you can actually play with. People are dragging these squirmy “creatures” to their desktops to save them, then reviving them by dropping them back into the demo from almost anywhere—even posts on social media. The controls read like a tiny zookeeper manual: pan and zoom to peek around, hit space to lasso a blob and add it to your Zoo, click‑and‑hold to herd the swarm, and double‑click‑and‑hold to spawn fresh wiggly life. It’s part digital ant farm, part slime ranch, all dangerously clicky.
The community mood? Equal parts delighted and mildly icked out. The top quip—“need to autoclave my phone”—set the tone, spawning jokes about “hand‑sanitizer pets” and “germcore Tamagotchi.” Some are obsessed with the idea of collecting and trading their prettiest blobs like stamps; others say the squishy, semi‑alive vibe is “too biology class before lunch.” Hot take hunters are circling the bigger question: is this cozy, shareable science‑toy magic—or are we one zoom‑in away from nightmare goo? Either way, the demo’s drag‑and‑drop resurrection trick is the star of the show, and the commentariat can’t decide if they’re nurturing tiny digital life or babysitting a very stylish sneeze. It’s gross‑cute chaos, and everyone’s scrolling back for more.
Key Points
- •Users can save creatures via a download icon or by dragging them to the desktop.
- •Saved creatures can be reloaded by dragging and dropping them into the demo, including from sources like Twitter.
- •Pan by click-and-drag and zoom with the scroll wheel to navigate the canvas.
- •Capture and save a creature to the Zoo by pressing space, selecting particles with click-and-drag, and pressing space again.
- •Herd particles by clicking and holding for one second; spawn new particles by double-clicking and holding.