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Fungal colonies are able to exhibit different morphologies depending on the enviromental conditions. This allows them to cope with and adapt to external changes. When grown in solid or semi-solid media the bulk of the colony is compact and…
Sensors are the first element of the pathways that control the response of cells to their environment. After chemical, the next most important cue is mechanical, and protein complexes that produce or enable a chemical signal in response to…
We study the clustering of a model cyanobacterium \textit{Synechocystis} into microcolonies. The bacteria are allowed to diffuse onto surfaces of different hardness, and interact with the others by aggregation and detachment. We find that…
Biological tissues exhibit complex behaviors with their dynamics often resembling inert soft matter such as liquids, polymers, colloids, and liquid crystals. These analogies enable physics-based approaches for investigations of emergent…
We consider an elastic composite material containing particulate inclusions in a soft elastic matrix that is bounded by a rigid wall, e.g., the substrate. If such a composite serves as a soft actuator, forces are imposed on or induced…
Knowledge of the mechanical properties of protoplanetary and cometary matter is of key importance to better understand the activity of comets and the early stages of planet formation. The tensile strength determines the required pressure to…
We introduce a numerical scheme to evolve functional materials that can accomplish a specified mechanical task. In this scheme, the number of solutions, their spatial architectures and the correlations among them can be computed. As an…
Acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a popular now user-friendly living substrate for designing of future and emergent sensing and computing devices. P. polycephalum exhibits regular patterns of oscillations of its surface…
We develop a rigorous, equation-free category-theoretic foundation for fungal organisation. A fungal organism is formalised as a functor from a category $\Env$ of structured environmental states and admissible transformations to a category…
Many types of mammalian cells exert active contractile forces and mechanically deform their elastic substrate, to accomplish biological functions such as cell migration. These substrate deformations provide a mechanism by which cells can…
While most of the studies on molecular machines have been performed in solution, interfacing these supramolecular systems with solid-state nanostructures and materials is very important in view of their utilization in sensing components…
The key feature of a memristor is that the resistance is a function of its previous resistance, thereby the behaviour of the device is influenced by changing the way in which potential is applied across it. Ultimately, information can be…
The macroscopic behaviour of active matter arises from nonequilibrium microscopic processes. In soft materials, active stresses typically drive macroscopic shape changes, which in turn alter the geometry constraining the microscopic…
Filamentous cyanobacteria, forming long strands of connected cells, are one of the earliest and most successful forms of life on Earth. They exhibit self-organised behaviour, forming large-scale patterns in structures like biomats and…
Activity and renewability are distinctive features of living matter, and constitute a new class of materials that we term renewable active matter. A striking example is the cell cytoskeleton, where myosin filaments bind to the actin…
This paper examines the mechanical response of flexible fiber packings subject to triaxial compression. Short fibers yield in a manner similar to typical granular materials in which the deviatoric stress remains nearly constant with…
Natural structural materials, such as bone and wood, can autonomously adapt their mechanical properties in response to loading to prevent failure. They smartly control the addition of material in locations of high stress by utilizing…
Slime mould of Physarum polycephalum is a large cell exhibiting rich spatial non-linear electrical characteristics. We exploit the electrical properties of the slime mould to implement logic gates using a flexible hardware platform designed…
Sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation with fluorescence detection has emerged as a powerful method for the study of interacting systems of macromolecules. It combines picomolar sensitivity with high hydrodynamic resolution,…
The persistent motility of the individual constituents in microbial suspensions represents a prime example of so-called active matter systems. Cells consume energy, exert forces and move, overall releasing the constraints of equilibrium…