Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Controlled Rotation of Human Observers in a Virtual Reality Environment
Published on: April 21, 2022
Membranes with rotating motors
Peter Lenz1, Jean-François Joanny, Frank Jülicher
1Institut Curie, UMR 168, 26 rue d'Ulm, F-75248 Paris Cédex 05, France.
Abstract:
We study collections of rotatory motors confined to two-dimensional manifolds. These systems show a nontrivial collective behavior since the rotational motion leads to a repulsive hydrodynamic interaction between motors. While for high rotation speed motors might exhibit crystalline order, they form at low speed a disordered phase where diffusion is enhanced by velocity fluctuations. These effects should be experimentally observable for motors driven by external fields and for dipolar biological motors embedded into lipid membranes in a viscoelastic solvent.
Related Concept Videos
What are Membranes?
What are Membranes?
Mechanisms of Membrane-bending
Membrane bending can happen due to intrinsic changes in lipid composition or extrinsic association with different proteins. The proteins involved...
Cell Motility through Blebbing
Blebbing Through the Matrix
In multicellular...
The Movement of Organelles and Vesicles
Membrane Fluidity

