Swimming without brains and muscles: Physical mechanisms behind the movement of microswimmers
Bacteria and other unicellular organisms developed sophisticated ways to actively navigate their way, despite being comparably simple structures. To reveal these mechanisms, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) used oil droplets as a model for biological microswimmers. Corinna Maass, group leader at the MPI-DS and Associate Professor at the University […]
Current marsh pollution has dramatic, negative effects on sea anemone’s survival
Stationary marine organisms that don’t ply the ocean, but spend their lives rooted in one spot, have evolved impressive ways to capture prey. The sea anemone Nematostella, for instance, burrows into salt marsh sediments and stays there for life. But it has specialized ‘stinging cells’ that hurl toxins into passing prey, immobilizing the morsel so […]