Related papers: Proprioceptive feedback modulates coordinating inf…

We study two microswimmers consisting of a spherical rigid head and a passive elastic tail. In the first one the tail is clamped to the head, and the system oscillates under the action of an external torque. In the second one, head and tail…

The slime mould Physarum polycephalum has emerged as a model for self-organisation and coordination of contractile activity at large spatial scales. This self-organisation largely results from cytoplasmic flows generated by propagating…

Stylized models of the neurodynamics that underpin sensory motor control in animals are proposed and studied. The voluntary motions of animals are typically initiated by high level intentions created in the primary cortex through a…

Biological microswimmers such as bacteria and sperm cells often encounter complex biological fluid environments. Here we use the well-known squirmer microswimmer model to show the importance of the local fluid microstructure and…

Animals must integrate sensory cues with their current behavioral context to generate a suitable response. How this integration occurs is poorly understood. Previously we developed high throughput methods to probe neural activity in…

Electric fishes modulate their electric organ discharges with a remarkable variability. Some patterns can be easily identified, such as pulse rate changes, offs and chirps, which are often associated with important behavioral contexts,…

The work presented here is a novel biological approach for the compliant control of a robotic arm in real time (RT). We integrate a spiking cerebellar network at the core of a feedback control loop performing torque-driven control. The…

This paper addresses the physical mechanism of intermittent swimming by considering the burst-and-coast regime of fish swimming at different speeds. The burst-and-coast regime consists of a cycle with two successive phases: a phase of…

The remarkable cohesion and coordination observed in moving animal groups and their collective responsiveness to threats are thought to be mediated by scale-free correlations, where changes in the behavior of one animal influence others in…

Microswimming cells and robots exhibit diverse behaviours due to both their swimming and their environment. One of the core environmental features impacting inertialess swimming is background flows. While the influence of select flows,…

While mathematical models, in particular self-propelled particle (SPP) models, capture many of the observed properties of large fish schools, they do not always capture the interactions of smaller shoals. Nor do these models tend to account…

Microorganisms ofter move in confined, disordered environments, where hydrodynamic couplings can modify their transport behavior. Using extensive finite-element simulations, we investigate the dynamics of microswimmers -- modeled as…

Synchronized bursts (SBs) with complex structures are common in neuronal cultures. Although the origin of SBs is still unclear, they have been studied for their information processing capabilities. Here, we investigate the properties of…

The oral surface of sea stars is lined with arrays of tube feet that enable them to achieve highly controlled locomotion on various terrains. The activity of the tube feet is orchestrated by a nervous system that is distributed throughout…

Adaptation to environmental change is a common property of biological systems. Cells initially respond to external changes in the environment, but after some time, they regain their original state. By considering an element consisting of…

Various microorganisms and some mammalian cells are able to swim in viscous fluids by performing nonreciprocal body deformations, such as rotating attached flagella or by distorting their entire body. In order to perform chemotaxis, i.e. to…

Microorganisms navigate through fluid, often confined by complex environments, to survive and sustain life. Inspired by this fact, we consider a model system and seek to understand the wall curvature driven dynamics of a squirmer, a…

Adaptive response to a varying environment is a common feature of biological organisms. Reproducing such features in electronic systems and circuits is of great importance for a variety of applications. Here, we consider memory models…

The presence of active forces in various biological and artificial systems may change how those systems behaves under forcing. We present a minimal model of a suspension of passive or active swimmers driven on the boundaries by…

In a series of two papers, we investigate the mechanisms by which complex oscillations are generated in a class of nonlinear dynamical systems with resets modeling the voltage and adaptation of neurons. This first paper presents…