What Does Batman and Bacteria Have in Common?
Written by Dr. Jeffery Herman // July 19, 2011 // Enviroment // No comments
Fashion sense?
A righteous quest to avenge the deaths of their parents?
An amoral, slightly psychotic personality?
Or could it be all those wonderful toys?
Researchers at UCLA have been studying the movement of bacteria and found that certain species use small little small hairlike structures that are described as “batman-like” grappling hooks. Similar to how batman might use his grappling to soar over the buildings of Gotham, these bacteria use these grappling hooks to pull themselves along various surfaces.
Now of course this is just a fun description using pop-culture, but I do have soft place in my heart, when pop-culture, geekyness, comics and video games meet science.
Here’s a few examples:
Shh (sonic hedgehog) is a protein named after one of my favorite console games growing up).
Pikachurin is named after the character from pokemon.
R2D2 coolest robot ever and a protein in fruit flies.
UCLA study shows bacteria use Batman-like grappling hooks to ‘slingshot’ on surfaces
