Beware of microbial traffic jams
Friday, May 13, 2016 - 12:50
in Mathematics & Economics
Grains of sand in an hourglass or candy in a gumball machine often jam up, and physicists have studied this granular flow for decades.Biophysicists have now found that multiplying yeast cells can jam up too, and be described by some of the same physical and mathematical principles. The jammed yeast can actually exert strong pressure that microbes may use to alter their environment.