In their search for more favourable environments bacteria choose new directions to explore, usually at random. In a marine bacterium with a single polar flagellum it is now shown that this quest is enhanced by a buckling instability.
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Berg, H. Turning failure into function. Nature Phys 9, 460–461 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2678
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2678
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