Thursday, January 21, 2010

'Intelligent' oil droplet navigates chemical maze by Colin Barras


'Intelligent' oil droplet navigates chemical maze by Colin Barras

There's some humbling news from the chemical world for anyone who has ever found themselves lost in a garden maze. A simple droplet of organic solvent can find its way through a complicated labyrinth with nothing more to go on than a slight pH difference.

Bartosz Grzybowski's team at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, used a common polymer to fashion a two-dimensional labyrinth some 2 centimetres on each side. They then flooded the maze with strongly alkaline potassium hydroxide solution, before placing a hydrochloric acid-soaked chunk of gel at the maze exit.

After about 40 seconds they placed a droplet of mineral oil containing hexyldecanoic acid at the maze entrance. The oil, which cannot mix with the potassium hydroxide solution, sits on the surface. But it remains still only for a matter of seconds – it soon begins tearing around the maze at speeds of up to 10 millimetres per second, sniffing out the shortest path to the acid-soaked gel, and solving the maze in the process.

"In the movie files you can see the droplet makes decisions," says Grzybowski. "It goes left along the wrong path, decides there's something fishy with that and so it reverses. It looks almost alive."

Primitive intelligence

But while Grzybowski says the droplet displays behaviour that might be called "primitive intelligence", there's a simple chemical mechanism at work.

The droplet leaches its acid into the surrounding solution, losing hydrogen ions in a process known as deprotonation – a process that affects the surface tension of the droplet itself.

"But to the front and rear of the droplet [the surrounding solution] has a different pH," he says, because of diffusion from the acid-soaked gel at the maze exit. Those tiny pH differences affect the amount of deprotonation that happens at the front and rear of the droplet, and this asymmetry sets up a surface tension gradient that forces the droplet into motion. "I would say the droplet is self-propellant," he says.

Grzybowski's team thinks that the behaviour could have implications for cancer treatments. They would like to develop micelles – aggregates of molecules such as balls of lipids – that can navigate pH gradients in the body. "A good reason for that is cancer is more acidic than the rest of the body," Grzybowski says.

Slime mystery

But the chemical behaviour could also offer an explanation for the apparently intelligent behaviour of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum, which 10 years ago was shown to possess similar maze-solving abilities by Toshiyuki Nakagaki, now at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.

"The [new] finding is interesting since it gives an insight of possible physical mechanisms for Physarum to find a path in the maze," Nakagaki says.

Journal reference: Journal of the American Chemical Society, DOI: 10.1021/ja9076793

Some cool mazes for you to enjoy after reading this article....


Hallucamazenic Maze-A-Delic - Ink On Paper, Winter 2006,

by Yonatan Frimer
Maze A Delical mazes

www.TeamOfMonkeys.com
Your source for mazes.


Maze Kong - Ink on Paper
Maze Kong

Maze of the Statue of Liberty - 2009
maze of the Statue Of Liberty - InkBlotMazes Ink Blot Mazes, By Yonatan Frimer, your humble maze artist Ink Blot Mazes, Optical Illustion, celebrity, icon inkblot
Maze of Liberty - 2009 - Yonatan Frimer

Which maze of the statue of liberty do you like better. The psychedelic one or the line art one? Answer with care down bellow in the comments. Thanks

Psychedelic Liberty Maze

statue of liberty maze pschedelic maze art
Maze of the Statue of Liberty


For more maze comics by Yonatan Frimer, check these links:
Team Of Monkeys Maze - Maze Comics
Ink Blot Mazes - Maze Art
December 2009 Team Of Monkeys Maze
January 2010 Team Of Monkeys Maze

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Team Of Monkeys Maze, Maze Comics by Yonatan Frimer

Team Of Monkeys maze is a daily single panel cartoon which is also a maze. Each maze has an entrance and exit and only one path that connects them. Arrow's mark the maze's entrance and exit.

The overall theme in these maze cartoons is of a not-so-make-believe organization called STOM Research which amongst other things, trains monkeys to work very well in teams. Each Team Of Monkeys Maze is a snapshot of what their marketing campaign might look like.

Good luck,

For more maze cartoon and other mazes, check out
Team Of Monkeys . com Maze Cartoon
Ink Blot Mazes . com Maze Art
January 2010 Team Of Monkeys Maze
Decmeber 2009 Team Of Monkeys Maze


Team Of Monkeys Maze By Y.Frimer and RSL

team of monkeys on sail boat
"Want to sail around the world solo but don't know how to sail?
Monkeys count as cargo and not as another human. A well trained
team of monkeys will sail you around the world while you relax."

For more maze cartoon and other mazes, check out
Team Of Monkeys . com Maze Cartoon
Ink Blot Mazes . com Maze Art
January 2010 Team Of Monkeys Maze
Decmeber 2009 Team Of Monkeys Maze


Team Of Monkeys Maze By Y.Frimer & RSL
team of monkeys maze bull dozer
"If you can't bring the mountain to the monkeys, bring the
monkey to the mountain, or visa versa."

Click here to download bulldozer monkeys maze in higher quality

Team Of Monkeys Maze By Y.Frimer & RSL
monkeys with a gavel, judging other monkeys?
"No monkey is above the law, but some monkeys are the law."


For more maze cartoon and other mazes by Yonatan Frimer, check out:
Team Of Monkeys . com Maze Cartoon
Ink Blot Mazes . com Maze Art
January 2010 Team Of Monkeys Maze
Decmeber 2009 Team Of Monkeys Maze




Garbage Truck Monkeys Maze

Team Of Monkeys Maze By Y.Frimer & RSL
garbage truck monkeys by yonatan frimer
"Cleanliness is next to humanity, Team Of Monkeys gets you there/"


Click here to view garbage truck monkeys maze larger


For more maze cartoon and other Yonatan Frimer mazes, check out...
Team Of Monkeys . com Maze Cartoon
Ink Blot Mazes . com Maze Art
January 2010 Team Of Monkeys Maze
Decmeber 2009 Team Of Monkeys Maze


Yonatan Frimer Self Portrait MAze
Mazes Artist - Self Portrait Maze
Maze of the guy who draws mazes.
Click here for more mazes like this one...

Click on the mazes to view larger:
Maze of Team Of Monkeys milking a holstein cow, created by yonatan frimer
Maze of Team Of Monkeys with fire extinguisher fire fighters
maze comics, team of monkeys on a tower crane
Click on the mazes to view larger:
Maze of Team Of Monkeys life guards
maze comics, team of monkeys poping a wheely on a motorcycle
Maze of Team Of Monkeys kung fu fighting, rebels
Maze of Team Of Monkeys ground crew
Click on the mazes to view larger:
Maze of Team Of Monkeys loading a flint lock pistol

Maze of Team Of Monkeys using hammer and nails
Maze of Team Of Monkeys at cash register, cashier
Click on the mazes to view larger:

Maze of Team Of Monkeys telemarketing
Maze of Team Of Monkeys with RPG grenade launcherMaze of Team Of Monkeys flying a hotair balloon


Maze Kong by Yonatan Frimer 2006

Maze Kong - 2006 Mazes Celebrity, artword, celebrities, portraits, famous,
King Kong of Mazes