We determined that siderophore production is an appropriate cooperative trait for our experiment.Wemeasured the growth rates of a wild-type strain that produces the primary siderophore, pyoverdin (cooperator), and a mutant strain that does not (cheater), either when alone or in mixed cultures where the other strainwas present, and at a variety of iron availabilities. Both strains were grown ove...

In nature, fast, high-power-density actuation can be achieved through the release of stored elastic energy by exploiting mechanical instabilities in systems including the closure of the Venus flytrap and the dispersal of plant or fungal spores. Here, we use droplet microfluidics to tailor the geometry of a nanoscale self-assembling supra-molecular polymer to create a mechanical instability. We ...