They discover how some cells can defy the laws of physics

the the movementIt is a term from biology to express… capacity Of organs and microorganisms Move spontaneously and independentlyis one of the main properties of living matter, from a single cell to a flock of birds or a crowd of people.

In recent decades, their dynamics, both individual and collective behavior, have been studied intensively, giving rise to a rapidly expanding research field in physics that unites this discipline with nonequilibrium statistics, biophysics, and continuum mechanics. The active or physical substance of living matter.

Three mathematical modeling and fluid dynamics specialists from Kyoto University have figured out how to do it Sperm And Microorganisms a small box Avoids the Newton's third law of motion.

In his article published in the magazine Hyatt PRXKenta Ishimoto, Clément Moreau, and Kento Yasuda described how they analyzed a movement Algae And from Sperm To learn more about how they are able to move easily through liquid.

third Law of motion Newton states that for Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Physics students see the law in action by performing experiments that involve hitting objects, such as balls. This means that receiving energy is released in some way.

In the real world, it's often Newton's third law of motion difficult By creatures that have evolved in ways that allow them to do so Energy conservationThis in turn means that they do not need as much food to survive.

In this new effort, it was observed that some algae and sperm appeared to move through their fluids with less effort than they should to move forward. Analysts point out that these fluids are usually sticky, which means that swimming through them requires effort.

To find out how small cells do this, they looked closely at how they worked. By studying the movement of Chlamydomonas algae and human sperm under a microscope, they discovered that both use flagella to move. These hair-like appendages perform waving motions, actively pushing and pulling them through their liquid environment.

Such movements should lead to liquid interactions due to Newton's third law, which would slow down progress dramatically. But this was not true.

As the sperm swam, they moved their flagella, as expected. But it was also revealed that they were moved in such a way that not much energy was lost in the fluid, due to what the team described as a kind of strange elasticity.

By bending into small shapes in response to the liquid supply, flagella were able to avoid an equal and opposite reaction, thus conserving their owner's energy. “Here, if you push a wall, it doesn't necessarily move back: it can move away,” says Kenta Ishimoto, a research specialist and co-author of the paper.

The Kyoto scientists now want to further study this new property in young biological swimmers. The findings could eventually inspire researchers to develop small robots that also violate this law while swimming.

*Kento Yasuda Specialist at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute of Kyoto University in Japan.