Check out our latest preprint on the cellular mechanical basis of Voronoi tessellations in epithelia! This biophysics study is inspired by disordered tessellations observed in zebrafish hearts 🤓🐟💙 #SulaimaanLim #ChiuFanLeeLab arxiv.org/html/2512.13...

Non-motile microbes are not prisoners of diffusive transport. Just their metabolic activity can be sufficient to stir up the ambient fluid and cause explosive long-range dispersal -- a "metabolic firework". Our latest work -- arxiv.org/abs/2512.16288

The study shows how individual fingerprint ridges deform when we touch different textures, revealing how subtle stretching and shifting along the ridge flanks may drive our remarkably fine tactile sensitivity. buff.ly/4z67Vf1

Nature research paper: Quantifying grain boundary deformation mechanisms in small-grained metals go.nature.com/48vtZcJ

As humanity pumps carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the ocean absorbs about a quarter of it. This exchange happens largely through bubbles created by breaking waves. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=26003

Researchers propose a method of manipulating small particles by using acoustic levitation and electrostatic charging, leveraging electrostatic repulsion and acoustic attraction to expand and collapse structures as needed. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/LKIK50XC71T

Where on earth is the best laboratory to demonstrate the beauty of fluid dynamics? Actually, it’s not on earth. Here is the story of the soft cell. And a longer read: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74308

Active droplets are fundamental in cell biology and origin of life. With Jonathan Bauermann, @boekhovenlab.bsky.social, Frank Jülicher, and @m-pol.bsky.social, we show that a critical transition influences their size, morphology, ripening and division propensity journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...

Our work on hydrodynamic instabilities in active jets is on the cover of PRL this week! journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... A dialogue between experiment and theory, where we use light to control active suspensions and show how they can be destabilized by their self-generated flows

Coaxing tiny, self-propelled particles into cohesive structures provides one route to making micromachines. Taking a step in that direction, researchers have measured and analyzed the mechanical properties of materials assembled from active particles.

Excited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and @joelmarthelot.bsky.social (Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by @abigailplummer.bsky.social (BU)

Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩 We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species ➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Static electricity may be key to helping a tiny roundworm latch onto its insect hosts. Like a heat-seeking missile, the parasite zooms up to 10 millimeters in the air before getting yanked toward its target by nothing more than the electrostatic charge of its host. https://scim.ag/3WKFVjZ

Sharpen your knives! High-speed video analysis reveals that blunt knives and faster cutting speeds release more eye-irritating droplets from onions by building pressure under the onion’s skin before the ejection of the tear-inducing aerosols. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/5rc750Xcvhj

Appreciate Quanta for shining a light on our joint work with Simon Gsell, Sham Tlili (@shamtlili.bsky.social), and Matthias Merkel (@merkellab.bsky.social).

Did you know you can manipulate hundreds of microparticles using phototactic algae? This is what we show in our last preprint, led by T. Laroussi and J. Bouvard: arxiv.org/abs/2509.08133 🧵👇

🍀🔬 MSL10 is a high-sensitivity mechanosensor in the tactile sense of the Venus flytrap @natcomms.nature.com from Toyota lab. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Psst, your students want to hang out in Boulder next July. Application deadline is Jan. 15. www.colorado.edu/conference/b...

A paper in Nature shows that parachute designs inspired by kirigami — the Japanese art of paper cutting to produce 3D designs — are stable and fall close to their target. These findings could simplify parachute manufacturing, reduce costs, and improve accuracy. go.nature.com/473OMmK 🧪

Cutting a pattern into a flat disc can transform it into a parachute capable of carrying small payloads go.nature.com/4nsKfA7

A ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis! Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)

New paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows @currentbiology.bsky.social. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇 www.cell.com/current-biol...

New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵

New #preprint: "Control of lumen morphology by lateral and basal cell surfaces", a great #biophysics collaboration with Chandraniva Guha Ray, @markusmukenhirn.bsky.social, Alf Honigmann @biotec-tud.bsky.social @poldresden.bsky.social. arxiv.org/abs/2509.04316 @mpipks.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

Dresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social ‬ & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

The secret to shrew brain shrinkage? 🤔 Not cell loss, but water loss! Our new paper shows that brain cells shrink by losing water, a wild feat of brain plasticity 🤯 Check the paper! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @labdavalos.bsky.social @batichica.bsky.social

New preprint! 🚨 We uncover a slow adaptation to stretch that links star-bundling of keratin filaments with nuclear escape from its keratin cage. Led by @tomgolde.bsky.social‬ 🙌 @IBECBarcelona www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We learned a lot about plant cell wall mechanics by stretching the Arabidopsis epidermis. Now published in ‪@natcomms.nature.com‬ Fibrous network nature of plant cell walls enables tunable mechanics for development doi.org/10.1038/s414...

How do #honeybees adapt their comb-building to different spatial constraints? A new study from @oritpeleg.bsky.social &co uses 3D printed panels and X-ray microscopy to reveal the existence of three distinct construction modes, from tilting cells to building complex 3D structures.🧪 plos.io/4n1g6Hs

What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n

New paper in PLOS Biology: as we raise the difficulty of our 3D printed puzzles, bees keep landing on combs with ever stranger hexagonal order! 🐝 Led by the brilliant Golnar Gharooni Fard, in collaboration with CK Prasanna & FL Jiménez journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

How do tiny ripple bugs surf raging rivers? Check out our new work in @science.org Work led by Victor Ortega-Jimenez, Dongjin Kim, Sunny Kumar, Changhwan Kim, Je-Sung Koh, and Saad Bhamla - a collaboration between UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Ajou University. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚰 Fluid inertia limits microporous flow efficiency, out in EPJ Plus this week, with Kaare Jensen @jensen-research.bsky.social‬ rdcu.be/eBV2C 👇

My small contribution to the popularization of evolutionary biology during the #ESEB2025 week, thanks to this article on the evolution of rose breeding in The Conversation France. If you read French, here it is: theconversation.com/comment-le-c... If not, our Genetics paper: doi.org/10.1093/gene...

These gorgeous origami shapes - an entirely new family called bloom patterns - could be used to design new, more effective space telescopes or solar panels. www.newscientist.com/article/2493...

On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°! In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ

More on collective behavior: Our new Annual Review of Biophysics piece - with the stellar Danielle Chase - explores how animals sense, share information, and make group decisions. In honeybees and beyond 🐝 www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Our new paper is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! Using 3D reconstructions and volume measurements in Drosophila wing primordia, we show that growth can be uncoupled from cell proliferation and uncover a new time window for growth arrest. With @leopoldlab.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...

Maybe it's time we rethink the idea that development is a cell centric process? In this beautiful review, María-del-Carmen and @stramerlab.bsky.social discussed how the ECM underlies and influences many morphogenesis processes from wing unfolding to mammary gland development. doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

Very happy that the first article from my postdoc work in the Tomancak lab is now published @PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... We studied the self-organization of actin in aggregates made from Hydra cells. Thread below (1/9)

#Activematter research by Marine Le Blay, Joshua Saldi & Alexandre Morin from @unileiden.bsky.social published in @natphys.nature.com ! Read more: edu.nl/btmta. @leidenscience.bsky.social #physics

Stretching the immortal Hydra. Publication by @paveltomancak.bsky.social group with Carl Modes @mpi-cbg.de & @zechnerlab.bsky.social shows how cells can create a new organism from scratch by coordinating their mechanical properties. @anaisbailles.bsky.social @pnas.org www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

Dreaming of a swimming pool? Bacteria are surrounded by water! Water capillary forces organize bacterial colonies into gas, nematic streams, or droplet states. New paper @natphys.nature.com led by Matt Black and Chenyi Fei, with Ned Wingreen and Josh Shaevitz! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

About 3200 insect species around the world have evolved a structure on their back called a helmet. But the appendage isn’t just for show: It allows for the detection of electric fields—perhaps helping them distinguish friend from foe. scim.ag/46xid0Y

Dans les cellules intestinales de souris, des filaments d'actines forment des structures en forme d'étoile ! ⭐ 🤝 @cnrs-dr12.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr @ibdm.bsky.social 👉 Lire l'article dans @natcomms.nature.com buff.ly/oit2wSj

3 Interestingly, in many cases close cousins can have very different brain sizes – like chimps and humans (among many others in panel c), and genetically distant species can have very similar brain sizes (panel b for examples).

1 To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised! 🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Our new paper is out! 1/14 How does an organ rebuild its shape after injury? It's not just about making new cells, but aligning them in the right direction — like bricks shaping a structure. We show that it's all driven by Cell Geometry! www.cell.com/current-biol...

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Have you ever thought about inflating tissues? Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues? New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling