The Tail that Wiggles: A Reaction-Diffusion Model Unveils the Mechanism Behind Sperm Tail Movement
The graceful, rhythmic beating of slender cellular appendages called flagella allows sperm cells and microorganisms like algae to swim. But how these waving motions spontaneously self-organize has confounded science for decades. Now, researchers at the University of Bristol propose flagella beating dynamics can emerge from basic physical interactions between motors and elastic elements, described by…