Forward swimming, experiment and simulation. (A) Free-floating swimmer is actuated by neuromuscular units, (B) generating forward locomotion. First 10 seconds are the rest phase, optical stimulation begins at t=10s. (C) Simulation illustrates the same outcome where tail deflections caused by muscle contractions drive (D) forward locomotion. Movie plays at 4x speed.
Onur Aydin, Xiaotian Zhang, Sittinon Nuethong, Gelson J. Pagan-Diaz, Rashid Bashir, Mattia Gazzola, and M. Taher A. Saif
PNAS. 2019. 116:19841-19847 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1907051116