Creeping gel Photosensitive self-oscillating gel to model biological crawling motions
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 06:01
in Earth & Climate
Directed motion seems simple to us, but the coordinated interplay of complex processes is needed, even for seemingly simple crawling motions of worms or snails. By using a gel that periodically swells and shrinks, researchers developed a model for the waves of muscular contraction and relaxation involved in crawling. They were able to produce two types of crawling motion by using inhomogeneous irradiation.