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Related papers: Transport powered by bacterial turbulence

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The Keller-Segel system has been widely proposed as a model for bacterial waves driven by chemotactic processes. Current experiments on {\em E. coli} have shown precise structure of traveling pulses. We present here an alternative…

Membranes regulate transport in a wide variety of industrial and biological applications. The microscale geometry of the membrane can significantly affect overall transport through the membrane, but the precise nature of this multiscale…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-02-02 Molly Brennan , Edwina F. Yeo , Philip Pearce , Mohit P. Dalwadi

It has recently been reported that bacteria, such as E.coli and P. putida, perform distinct modes of motion when placed in porous media as compared to dilute regions or free space. This has led us to suggest an efficient strategy for active…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-04-12 Ehsan Irani , Zahra Mokhtari , Annette Zippelius

A flagellated bacterium navigates fluid environments by rotating its helical flagellar bundle. The wobbling of the bacterial body significantly influences its swimming behavior. To quantify the three underlying motions--precession,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-05-29 Jinglei Hu , Chen Gui , Mingxin Mao , Pu Feng , Yurui Liu , Xiangjun Gong , Gerhard Gompper

We revisit a recently proposed agent-based model of active biological motion and compare its predictions with own experimental findings for the speed distribution of bacterial cells, \emph{Salmonella typhimurium}. Agents move according to a…

Cell Behavior · Quantitative Biology 2011-09-19 Victor Garcia , Mirko Birbaumer , Frank Schweitzer

In this fluid dynamics video we explore the nature and causes of the spontaneous ordering that emerges in a dense bacterial suspension under confinement. Recent experiments with B. Subtilis confined within small flattened drops show that…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2013-10-14 Hugo Wioland , Enkeleida Lushi , Raymond E. Goldstein

The bacterial flagellar motor is an ion-powered transmembrane protein complex which drives swimming in many bacterial species. The motor consists of a cytoplasmic 'rotor' ring and a number of 'stator' units, which are bound to the cell wall…

Biological Physics · Physics 2020-06-17 Jasmine A Nirody , Ashley L. Nord , Richard M. Berry

Controlling bacterial surface adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation in fluid systems is crucial for the safety and efficacy of medical and industrial processes. Here, we theoretically examine the transport of bacteria close to surfaces,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-07-08 Edwina F. Yeo , Benjamin J. Walker , Philip Pearce , Mohit P. Dalwadi

Bacteria predate plants and animals by billions of years. Today, they are the world's smallest cells yet they represent the bulk of the world's biomass, and the main reservoir of nutrients for higher organisms. Most bacteria can move on…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2016-01-20 Eric Lauga

We study the interaction-induced migration of bubbles in shear flow and observe that bubbles suspended in elastoviscoplastic emulsions organise into chains aligned in the flow direction, similarly to particles in viscoelastic fluids. To…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-04-25 Blandine Feneuil , Kazi Tassawar Iqbal , Atle Jensen , Luca Brandt , Outi Tammisola , Andreas Carlson

The intricate wobbling motion of flagellated bacteria, characterized by the periodic precession of the cell body, is a determinant factor in their motility and navigation within complex fluid environments. While well-studied in quiescent…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-01-26 Wei Feng , Fanglong Dang , Hao Luo , Alan C. H. Tsang , Yanan Liu , Guangyin Jing

Meso-scale turbulence was originally observed experimentally in various suspensions of swimming bacteria, as well as in the collective motion of active colloids. The corresponding large-scale dynamical patterns were reproduced in a simple…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-03-30 Vasco M. Worlitzer , Gil Ariel , Avraham Be'er , Holger Stark , Markus Bär , Sebastian Heidenreich

While bacterial swarms can exhibit active turbulence in vacant spaces, they naturally inhabit crowded environments. We numerically show that driving disorderly active fluids through porous media enhances Darcy's law. While purely active…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-03-19 Ryan R. Keogh , Timofey Kozhukhov , Kristian Thijssen , Tyler N. Shendruk

We study a novel phase of active polar fluids, which is characterized by the continuous creation and destruction of dense clusters due to self-sustained turbulence. This state arises due to the interplay of the self-advection of the aligned…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-07-12 Vasco M. Worlitzer , Gil Ariel , Avraham Be'er , Holger Stark , Markus Bär , Sebastian Heidenreich

Recent experiments on active materials, such as dense bacterial suspensions and microtubule-kinesin motor mixtures, show a promising potential for achieving self-sustained flows. However, to develop active microfluidics it is necessary to…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-01-23 Santhan Chandragiri , Amin Doostmohammadi , Julia M Yeomans , Sumesh P Thampi

Navigation of microorganisms is controlled by internal processes ultimately sensitive to mechanical or chemical signaling encountered along the path. In many natural environments, such as porous soils or physiological ducts, motile species…

Following the goal of using active particles as targeted cargo carriers aimed, for example, to deliver drugs towards cancer cells, the quest for the control of individual active particles with external fields is among the most explored…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-06-11 Alexandra Zampetaki , Peter Schmelcher , Hartmut Löwen , Benno Liebchen

Near a solid boundary, E. coli swims in clockwise circular motion. We provide a hydrodynamic model for this behavior. We show that circular trajectories are natural consequences of force-free and torque-free swimming, and the hydrodynamic…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2016-08-31 Eric Lauga , Willow R. DiLuzio , George M. Whitesides , Howard A. Stone

Bubble-propelled catalytic colloids stand out as a uniquely efficient design for artificial controllable micromachines, but so far lack a general theoretical framework that explains the physics of their propulsion. Here we develop a…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2024-05-22 Alexander Chamolly , Sébastien Michelin , Eric Lauga

In natural environments, solid surfaces present both opportunities and challenges for bacteria. On one hand, they serve as platforms for biofilm formation, crucial for bacterial colonization and resilience in harsh conditions. On the other…

Biological Physics · Physics 2025-07-01 Antai Tao , Guangzhe Liu , Rongjing Zhang , Junhua Yuan