A team was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behavior of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a targeted manner, for example to transport drugs to the right place in the body.
A team was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behavior of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a targeted manner, for example to transport drugs to the right place in the body.
Bacteria can do it, amoebas can do it, even blood cells can do it: they all have the ability to move in a goal oriented way in liquids. And they do so despite having extremely simple structures without a central control system . How can this be explained? A team from TU Wien, the University of Vienna and Tufts University simulated this type of movement on a computer and was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behaviour of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a targeted manner, for example to transport drugs to the right place in the body."Simple microorganisms can be imagined as being composed of several parts, a bit like a string of pearls," says Benedikt Hartl from the Institute of Theoretical Physics at TU Wien and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, lead author of the current publication."The individual parts can move relative to each other. We wanted to know: under what circumstances does this result in a movement that causes the entire organism to move in a desired direction?" This is relatively simple if there is a central control system -- something like a brain or at least a nerve centre. Such a centre can issue specific commands to the individual parts. It is easy to understand how this can result in coordinated movement. But a single-celled organism naturally has no nerve cells, no central processing system that could issue commands. How is it possible in this case for a coordinated swimming movement to arise? If the individual parts of the microorganism all behave according to very simple rules, can this result in collective behaviour that leads to efficient swimming?This question was investigated using computer simulations: the microorganisms were modelled as chains of interconnected beads . Each of these beads can exert a force to the left or right, but each bead only knows the position of its immediate neighbours. There is no knowledge of the overall state of the organism or of beads further away. "The crucial question now is: Is there a control system, a set of simple rules, a behavioural strategy that each bead can follow individually so that a collective swimming motion emerges -- without any central control unit?" says Benedikt Hartl. On the computer, the individual beads -- the simulated parts of the virtual microorganism -- were equipped with a very simple form of artificial intelligence, a tiny neural network with only 20 to 50 parameters, explains Hartl:"The term neural network is perhaps somewhat misleading in this context; of course, a single-celled organism has no neurons. But such simple control systems can be implemented within a cell, for example, by means of very simple physical-chemical circuits that cause a specific area of the microorganism to perform a specific movement." This simple decentralized control system has now been adapted to the computer in search of the most efficient 'control code' possible that produces the best swimming behaviour. With each version of this control system, the virtual microorganism was allowed to swim in a simulated viscous fluid. "We were able to show that this extremely simple approach is sufficient to produce highly robust swimming behaviour," says Benedikt Hartl."Although our system has no central control and each segment of the virtual microorganism behaves according to very simple rules, the overall result is complex behaviour that is sufficient for efficient locomotion."This result is not only interesting because it explains the complex behaviour of very simple biological systems, it could also be interesting for artificially produced nanobots:"This means that it would also be possible to create artificial structures that could perform complex tasks with very simple programming," says Andreas Zöttl ."It would be conceivable, for example, to build nanobots that actively search for oil pollution in water and help to remove it. Or even medical nanobots that move autonomously to specific locations in the body to release a drug in a targeted manner."Snot might not be the first place you'd expect nanobots to be swimming around. But this slimy secretion exists in more places than just your nose and piles of dirty tissues -- it also lines and helps ... Researchers show that fish, through precise control of body fluctuations, generate movable vortex pairs of high- and low-pressure regions that enable them to swim. They used particle image ... A new study shows that coral larvae swimming in seawater behave in such a manner so as to temporarily stop swimming due to reduced light, especially blue light. Researchers think that this behavior ... New research looks at the swimming and sinking kinematics of nine species of warm water pteropods to shed light on their ecology, predator-prey interactions, and vertical distributions. ...Australia's Oldest Prehistoric Tree Frog Hops 22 Million Years Back in Time
Biology Developmental Biology Animal Learning And Intelligence Virtual Environment Sports Science Organic Chemistry Solar Energy
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Piecing together the brain puzzle | ScienceDailyOur brain is a complex organ. Billions of nerve cells are wired in an intricate network, constantly processing signals, enabling us to recall memories or to move our bodies. Making sense of this complicated network requires a precise look into how these nerve cells are arranged and connected.
Read more »
A 'roadmap' of the fruit fly brain | ScienceDailyResearchers have gained comprehensive insights into the entire nervous system of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). The study describes in detail the neurons that span the entire nervous system of the adult fruit fly.
Read more »
3D printing in vivo using sound | ScienceDailyNew technique for cell or drug delivery, localization of bioelectric materials, and wound healing uses ultrasound to activate printing within the body.
Read more »
Promising Parkinson's drug decoded | ScienceDailyHow well our brain functions depends heavily on the performance of our nerve cells. That is why they are regularly checked for their proper function -- defective cell components are marked, disposed of and recycled. This includes the mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells.
Read more »
Red alert for our closest relatives | ScienceDailyNew report shows drastic decline in endangered primates and calls for conservation measures.
Read more »
Improving newborn genetic screening | ScienceDailyMore than a decade ago, researchers launched the BabySeq Project, a pilot program to return newborn genomic sequencing results to parents and measure the effects on newborn care.
Read more »