Discovery of folding pattern called 'curved crease origami' or 'Lacrigami' has potential applications in soft-matter engineering and microsurgeries
Lacrymaria olor can extend proboscis up to 30 times body length for food search and attacks on prey
Microtubules form origami-like structure allowing orderly extension and retraction without tangling
Single-celled organism Lacrymaria olor exhibits complex behavior through origami-like folds in cell membrane
A single-celled organism, Lacrymaria olor, has been discovered to exhibit complex behavior without a nervous system through the use of origami-like folds in its cell membrane. This protist, which is also known as a free-living ciliate, can extend its 'neck' up to 30 times its body length or 1.2 millimeters for food search and rapid attacks on prey. The organism's long proboscis is covered in microtubules that form an origami-like structure, allowing for orderly extension and retraction without tangling.
Researchers from Stanford University have spent seven years studying Lacrymaria olor, publishing their findings in the journal Science. They discovered that the organism's behavior is encoded in its cytoskeletal structure, specifically thin, helical microtubule ribbons enshrouding the cell membrane. These tubules coil and uncoil, leading to long projection and retraction.
The gossamer of membrane tucks away inside the cell in neat, well-defined pleats when it retracts. Lacrymaria olor performs this projection and retraction 50,000 times without flaw during its lifetime.
Lacrymaria olor is a remarkable ciliate that has been observed for over a century. Its neck-stretching ability was known but the method behind this quick extension remained unknown until now. The discovery of this folding pattern, called 'curved crease origami' or 'Lacrigami,' has potential applications in soft-matter engineering and microsurgeries.
Sources:
Prakash Lab (https://prakashlab.stanford.edu/)
Science journal (https://science.sciencemag.org/)
Eliott Flaum and Manu Prakash, Stanford University
Lacrymaria olor, a single-celled protist, can extend its neck up to 30 times its body length or 1.2 millimeters.
The organism uses an element of origami to rapidly attack its prey with the help of microtubules that curve around its body.
L. olor’s neck-stretching ability has been known for over a century, but the method behind this quick extension was unknown until now.
Researchers found that L. olor’s long proboscis is covered in microtubules, which give the single-celled organism its shape and are wrapped around the protrusion in a helix forming an origami-like structure.
Accuracy
Lacrymaria olor's neck-stretching ability is up to 30 times its body length or 1.2 millimeters.
L. olor's neck-stretching ability is up to 1,500 microns or more out into the world and retracts just as quickly.
Lacrymaria olor can extend its 'neck' up to seven times its body length.
Single-celled predator Lacrymaria olor extends its 'neck' using a series of pleats in its cell membrane
Only one point of a crease can unfold or refold at any time, allowing for orderly extension and retraction of the neck
Discovery of this folding pattern, called 'curved crease origami' or 'Lacrigami', has potential applications in soft-matter engineering and microsurgeries
Accuracy
Lacrymaria olor is a free-living protist that exhibits complex behavior without a nervous system.
L. olor can extend its 'neck' up to 1,500 microns or more out into the world and retract it just as quickly.
Deception
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None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
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No formal fallacies found. However, there is an example of an informal fallacy: an appeal to authority. The author refers to the discovery as 'curved crease origami', or 'Lacrigami'. This naming does not necessarily imply expertise in the field and could be seen as attempting to elevate the author's opinion on the subject.
[...] He and Flaum became intrigued when they saw L. olor in samples they collected from a swamp six or seven years ago, and they set out to solve the mystery. Flaum used a number of different techniques to image the outer structure of L. olor and its inner cytoskeleton, made of structures called microtubules. [...]
