PDB101: Molecule of the Month: Flagellar Motor
Bidirectional motors power the swimming of many bacterial cells.
Posting this as I find it astonishing how nature invented electrical motors with gearshift way before humans did.
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I wrote my PhD thesis about bacterial flagella. Not about the motor though (which is incredible), but about the long part of the flagella that is extracellular. It is able to change its shape as the bacteria moves. The mechanism by which this happens is at the same time quite simple, but just about impossible to explain via text. Really, really neat bit of evolution that has proven to be home to incredibly rich physics that is still being studied to this day.
