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‘Hyperbolic hedgehog’ steers active droplets in a liquid crystal

In a paper published in "Nature," researchers in Trustees Research Professor Oleg Lavrentovich’s materials science group at Kent State describe how it moved a stabilized droplet of active bacteria along a pre-determined path by harnessing the broken symmetry of a liquid crystal. The researchers found that by aligning the crystal molecules they could force the droplet to move in a straight line, in contrast to its random motion in a Newtonian fluid. It is hoped that this system could be used to model microscopic organisms.

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POSTED: Friday, November 6, 2020 10:30 AM
Updated: Friday, December 9, 2022 01:11 PM