What controls the motion of self-propelled particles at interfaces?

Experiments and simulations show how Marangoni forces drive elliptical Janus particles, with dynamics strongly shaped by size and eccentricity.

🔗 https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2026/sm/d5sm01270h

#marangoni #ActiveMatter #softmatter #fluiddynamics #janusparticles

Schooling at Scale

Relatively simple visual and hydrodynamic signals are enough to make digital fish school in ways that resemble living ones. Here, researchers look at what happens when well-behaved schools of fish get too big. The researchers first demonstrate that their schools behave reasonably at one hundred members, either in a schooling configuration or a group milling around a central region.

At one thousand fish, the schools are still reasonably coherent and sensible. But at fifty thousand fish, the picture is drastically different. Neither schooling nor milling groups are able to remain together. They fracture and scatter into smaller groupings. (Video and image credit: H. Hang et al.)

Scientists are creating “animate” droplets that can act, adapt, and respond on their own, blurring the line between living and non-living matter.

Could this inspire new ways to control liquids?

🔗 https://physicsworld.com/a/droplet-scientists-push-the-boundary-between-living-and-non-living-matter/

#softmatter #ActiveMatter #dropletphysics #AutonomousSystems #fluiddynamics

Fluid Flows Break Up Microswimmer Clumps

The field of active matter looks at the collective motion of particles and organisms–how birds flock and fish school. In systems of “dry” squirmers–those that have no hydrodynamic interactions with one another–clumps of squirmers can form with empty spaces in between them. This is known as motility-induced phase separation, or MIPS. Researchers wondered whether microswimmers in a fluid–which do produce hydrodynamic forces that can affect one another–would also show MIPS.

In a new study, researchers show, instead, that hydrodynamic interactions between swimmers will prevent (or destroy) these clumps. Through a combination of theoretical work and simulation, the authors found that translational flows between swimmers swept the swimmers out of clumps as they formed. Rotational flows between swimmers made them able to change direction faster, which also kept stable clumps from forming. (Image and research credit: T. Zhou and J. Brady; via APS)

Aktualizacja Gigastructure w #ActiveMatter dodaje nowe lokacje, tryb Hired Ops oraz świeży arsenał broni. Rozgrywka staje się bardziej wymagająca dzięki zmianom w systemie permadeath i większej personalizacji.

https://cat5.pl/active-matter-rozszerza-sie-o-gigastructure/

🚨Fully funded PhD opportunity: Physics, biology & ecology of toxic dinoflagellate blooms 🦠.

Supervisory team from Newcastle university (main supervisors), the University of Stirling and Lancaster University.

Join us to investigate how swimming motility and the flexible utilisation of energy sources influence bloom formation, using experiment🔬and modelling ♾️. #microswimmers #plankton #biophysics #biology #ecology #ActiveMatter #PhD

Please repost

Project details: https://iapetus.ac.uk/studentships/physics-biology-and-ecology-of-toxic-plankton-blooms/

gamescom 2025: Active Matter angespielt @amgame_official #preview #vorschau #ActiveMatter #gaming #Koop

https://rushbfast.com/gamescom-2025-active-matter-angespielt/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Joining a stacked field already #ActiveMatter is flipping the script on what an extraction shooter can be, literally. Find out why we are on board with our early access review

Early Access Review: https://www.maxi-geek.com/con/active-matter-early-access-review

#pc

🎮 #ActiveMatter, nowa strzelanka online od Gaijin Entertainment i Matter Team, oferuje rajdy PvPvE, PvE, tryb PvP oraz bogaty arsenał.

https://cat5.pl/active-matter-hardkorowy-shooter-juz-dostepny