(647a) The Blob: Topologically Entangled Living Matter

In this talk, I will share our discoveries on why aquatic worms braid, tangle, and knot with their neighbors to form extraordinary mechano-functional living blobs - the stuff of science fiction. I will discuss how these soft, squishy, and 3-D blobs rapidly morph their shape, crawl, float, climb, self-assemble, and disassemble topological tangles. Using both mathematical and robophysical models, I will discuss how these “living polymers” solve Gordian knot problems using clever biophysics mechanisms that open a path to new classes of active topologically tunable robotic swarms.