Tiny ocean plants use turbulence for travel to social gatherings
2,559 views · Published 15 July 2013 · 0:20 · Indexed 22 September 2026
Channel: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · 2013 · Education
Scientists at MIT and Oxford University have shown that the motility of phytoplankton — which are tiny ocean plants — helps them determine their fate in ocean turbulence. Rather than acting to distribute them evenly — as physics would demand of small particles mixed into a fluid — the individual vortices that make up ocean turbulence are like social mixers for phytoplankton, bringing similar cells into close proximity, potentially enhancing sexual reproduction and other ecologically desirable activities. In a new paper, William Durham of Oxford, Roman Stocker of MIT and co-authors describe how at the scale of millimeters, phytoplankton caught in a watery vortex form highly concentrated patches at the center of the swirl. In the turbulent ocean where short-lived vortices form continually, this process repeats itself, carrying the microorganisms from social mixer to social mixer. Read about the research: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/phytoplankton-harness-turbulence-for-travel-0715.html Video by: W. M. Durham, E. Climent, M. Barry, F. De Lillo, G. Boffetta, M. Cencini and R. Stocker
