Self-assembling magnetic "snakes"

Nickel particles float peacefully in a liquid medium until a giant snake seems to swim by and snatch several particles up, adding to its own mass. The self-assembled "snakes" act like biological systems, but they are not alive and are driven by a magnetic field. The research may someday offer some insight into the organization of life itself.

Read more at Wired: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/snakes/

Research and video by Alex Snezhko and Igor Aronson, Argonne National Laboratory.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• magnetic
• snakes
• particles
• attack
• physics
• biology
• science
• research
• technology
• argonne
• national
• laboratory

[254fds]

there is something oddly .... alive about that