article published yes Ylona Collard author Galien M Grosjean author 0C5FDA4A-9CF6-11E9-8939-FF05E66974250000-0001-5154-417X Nicolas Vandewalle author ScWa department ISTplus - Postdoctoral Fellowships project When tiny soft ferromagnetic particles are placed along a liquid interface and exposed to a vertical magnetic field, the balance between capillary attraction and magnetic repulsion leads to self-organization into well-defined patterns. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that precessing magnetic fields induce metachronal waves on the periphery of these assemblies, similar to the ones observed in ciliates and some arthropods. The outermost layer of particles behaves like an array of cilia or legs whose sequential movement causes a net and controllable locomotion. This bioinspired many-particle swimming strategy is effective even at low Reynolds number, using only spatially uniform fields to generate the waves. https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/download/8036/8045/2020_CommunicationsPhysics_Collard.pdf application/pdfno Springer Nature2020 eng 2399-3650 00054332800000210.1038/s42005-020-0380-9 3 Y. Collard, G.M. Grosjean, N. Vandewalle, Communications Physics 3 (2020). Collard, Y., Grosjean, G. M., &#38; Vandewalle, N. (2020). Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce locomotion in self-assemblies. <i>Communications Physics</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9">https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9</a> Collard, Ylona, Galien M Grosjean, and Nicolas Vandewalle. “Magnetically Powered Metachronal Waves Induce Locomotion in Self-Assemblies.” <i>Communications Physics</i>. Springer Nature, 2020. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9">https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9</a>. Collard Y, Grosjean GM, Vandewalle N. 2020. Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce locomotion in self-assemblies. Communications Physics. 3, 112. Collard Y, Grosjean GM, Vandewalle N. Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce locomotion in self-assemblies. <i>Communications Physics</i>. 2020;3. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9">10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9</a> Y. Collard, G. M. Grosjean, and N. Vandewalle, “Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce locomotion in self-assemblies,” <i>Communications Physics</i>, vol. 3. Springer Nature, 2020. Collard, Ylona, et al. “Magnetically Powered Metachronal Waves Induce Locomotion in Self-Assemblies.” <i>Communications Physics</i>, vol. 3, 112, Springer Nature, 2020, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9">10.1038/s42005-020-0380-9</a>. 80362020-06-29T07:59:35Z2026-04-02T14:34:21Z