Microsomers are tiny particles that can move through liquids on their own by interacting with their environment through chemical reactions. The platinum coating on microswimmers reacts with the hydrogen peroxide solution placed in them, and it propels them through the liquid.
Using a 3D printer, scientists have discovered that they can print any shape of microswimmers, including boats and starships. It helps them to integrate the effect on the motion of swimming particles of each shape.
Most people didn’t understand what USS Voyager had to do with science, while one of the study’s co-authors, Jonas Hochet, had his own reason for copying the ship.
“In the last week of their project, I promised them we would be able to print whatever shape they like,” Ohajji said. “As a major Star Trek fan, he chose USS Voyager. In addition, it was to show that the types of shapes we can print are almost unlimited.”
In their project, physicists also printed shapes such as boats, trimmers, and heliosis, in which the shape of each object affects their swimming behavior.
By understanding how microswimmers can be used to clean up sewage or deliver drugs to the body, the experiment could teach scientists more about biological swimmers, such as sperm and bacteria, and how they travel through the body.
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