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Most paints contain pigments that absorb light and fade over time. A robust alternative can be found in nature, where structural coloration arises from the interference of light with submicron features. Plant-derived, cellulose nanocrystals…
We study interactions between biological cells that apply anisotropic active mechanical forces on an elastic substrate. We model the cells as thin discs that along their perimeters apply radial, but angle-dependent forces on the substrate.…
Stimuli-responsive materials that modify their shape in response to changes in environmental conditions -- such as solute concentration, temperature, pH, and stress -- are widespread in nature and technology. Applications include micro- and…
We show that inducing structural softness in regular magnetoelectric (ME) multiferroics -- i.e., tuning the materials to make their structure strongly reactive to applied fields -- makes it possible to obtain very large ME effects. We…
Living systems are built of multiscale-composites: materials formed of components with different properties that are assembled in complex micro- and nano-structures. Such biological multiscale-composites often show outstanding physical…
Living matter moves, deforms, and organizes itself. In cells this is made possible by networks of polymer filaments and crosslinking molecules that connect filaments to each other and that act as motors to do mechanical work on the network.…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into mechanical work to produce autonomous motion, and exhibit striking collective dynamics that biology relies on for essential functions. Controlling those dynamics and transport in…
Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is large single cell with intriguingly smart behaviour. The slime mould shows outstanding abilities to adapt its protoplasmic network to varying environmental conditions. The slime mould can solve tasks of…
We present a generic theory for the dynamics of a stiff filament under tension, in an active medium with orientational correlations, such as a microtubule in contractile actin. In sharp contrast to the case of a passive medium, we find the…
We detail a technique to produce actuators able to bear large strain and respond to an external magnetic field. The material used is PDMS reinforced with nickel coated carbon fibres. Thanks to the nickel functionalisation, the fibre…
Active systems comprising micron-sized self-propelling units, also termed microswimmers, are promising candidates for the bottom-up assembly of small structures and reconfigurable materials. Here we leverage field-driven colloidal assembly…
In the realm of functional materials, the production of two-dimensional structures with tuneable porosity is of paramount relevance for many practical applications: surfaces with regular arrays of pores can be used for selective adsorption…
Synthetic and biological living polymers are self-assembling chains whose chain length distributions (CLDs) are dynamic. We show these dynamics are ultrasensitive: even a small perturbation (e.g. temperature jump) non-linearly distorts the…
It is possible to build free-standing, load-bearing structures using only rocks and loops of elastic material. We investigate how these structures emerge, and find that the necessary maximum loop spacing (the critical spacing) is a function…
The spontaneous magnetic orders arising in ferro-, ferri- and antiferromagnets stem from various magnetic interactions. Depending on the interplay and competition among the Heisenberg exchange interaction, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange…
Cell membranes are studded with protrusions that were thoroughly analyzed with electron microscopy. However, the nanometer-scale three-dimensional motions generated by cell membranes to fit the topography of foreign surfaces and initiate…
Efficient detection of harmful organic volatile compounds is a major health and environmental need in industrialized societies. Tailor-made metal-organic frameworks and other coordination polymers are emerging as promising sensing molecular…
Very recently, the construction of twist actuators from magnetorheological gels and elastomers has been suggested. These materials consist of magnetizable colloidal particles embedded in a soft elastic polymeric environment. The twist…
Motivated by recent experiments on colloidal systems with competing attractive and repulsive interactions, we simulate a two-dimensional system of colloids with competing interactions that can undergo fragmentation. In the absence of any…
Life evolved organisms to adapt dynamically to their environment and autonomously exhibit behaviours. While complex behaviours in organisms are typically associated with the capability of neurons to process information, the unicellular…