Rotating locomotion in living systemsSeveral organisms are capable of rolling locomotion. However, true wheels and propellers—despite their utility in human vehicles—do not seem to play a significant role in the movement of living things (with the exception of certain flagella, which work like corkscrews). Biologists have offered several explanations for the apparent absence of biological wheels, and wheeled creatures have appeared often in speculative fiction.
MicrofluidicsMicrofluidics refers to a system that manipulates a small amount of fluids ((10−9 to 10−18 liters) using small channels with sizes ten to hundreds micrometres. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves molecular analysis, biodefence, molecular biology, and microelectronics. It has practical applications in the design of systems that process low volumes of fluids to achieve multiplexing, automation, and high-throughput screening.
Book of Ingenious DevicesThe Book of Ingenious Devices (Arabic: كتاب الحيل Kitab al-Hiyal, Persian: كتاب ترفندها Ketab tarfandha, literally: "The Book of Tricks") is a large illustrated work on mechanical devices, including automata, published in 850 by the three brothers of Persian descent, known as the Banu Musa (Ahmad, Muhammad and Hasan bin Musa ibn Shakir) working at the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Abbasid Caliphate. The book described about one hundred devices and how to use them.
Microbial population biologyMicrobial population biology is the application of the principles of population biology to microorganisms. Microbial population biology, in practice, is the application of population ecology and population genetics toward understanding the ecology and evolution of bacteria, archaebacteria, microscopic fungi (such as yeasts), additional microscopic eukaryotes (e.g., "protozoa" and algae), and viruses. Microbial population biology also encompasses the evolution and ecology of community interactions (community ecology) between microorganisms, including microbial coevolution and predator-prey interactions.
