Researchers Unlock the Secrets to Bacteria's Super-Efficient Microscopic Motor Tech
Stopping Bacterial Spread If engineers can figure out how to stop bacteria's super-efficient engine, they could create new tools to stop or slow infections. IRRI Images via Flickr American motor engineering prides itself on muscle while German engineering is known for speed and precision, but neither of these century-old crafts can stand up to the multi-millennia advantage that evolution enjoys over them. Now Australian scientists have unlocked the design details of the minuscule motors that drive bacteria, a flagellar engine that converts nearly 100 percent of its energy into rotational power. These tiny bacterial engines have stumped researchers for decades as they've struggled to understand the mechanisms that drive them to such efficiency and agility (the motors can switch from forward to reverse nearly instantaneously). By comparison, the best F1 engines in the world can only convert about 37 percent of the chemical energy in their fuels into power. Yet the bacteria...