When
headed the wrong way, some bacteria turn by letting their propellers flop,
according to Cristy Gelling at Science News.
The
newly discovered turning mechanism explains how a marine bacterium can control
its direction using only a single flagellum, a stiff, rotating appendage that
propels the cell forward. Turning depends on a mechanical characteristic that
engineers might consider a failure if the flagellum were human-made: the
tendency of flexible materials to buckle under pressure.
To
read more, refer to the following research paper:
Posted by Tim Sandle
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