Nature Communications 7: Article number: 13519 (2016); Published 22 November 2016; Updated 17 January 2017

This Article contains an error in Reference 18 that was introduced during the production process. The correct reference should be:

Steinbach, G. et al. Stirrers and movers actuated by oscillating fields. Preprint at arXiv:1607.04733 (2016).

Reference 18 should have been cited in the second paragraph of the ‘Discussion’ section as follows: ‘For magnetic dipoles it has been shown that the actuation by an oscillating external magnetic field enables the propulsion of structurally non-deforming chains and rings up to N=5 particles18.’ and ‘The recent experimental developments provide evidence that our predictions about fission and fusion can be verified in granular and colloidal magnetic swimmers14,18,25 as well as in magnetotactic bacteria56–58.’.