Ultrafast reversible self-assembly of living tangled matter

Abstraction: California blackworms form tangles slowly but untangle in milliseconds via helical waves

Key points:

• California blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) form tangles over minutes but can untangle in milliseconds — an extreme speed asymmetry
• Mechanistic model developed using ultrasound imaging, theory, and simulation: resonantly alternating helical waves in individual worms drive both tangle formation and ultrafast untangling
• Individual active-filament kinematics determine emergent collective topological dynamics at the group level
• Results generalize to designing topologically tunable active materials — a new class of engineered soft materials
• Tangled active filaments are ubiquitous: chromosomal DNA, cilia carpets, root networks, and worm blobs all exhibit analogous behavior

Connections: Arxiv · Active Matter · Self Assembly · Soft Condensed Matter · Topology

Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.03384