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ACTIVE FLUIDS

Rolling sound waves

Nature Materials volume 17, pages 759–760 (2018)Cite this article

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A quantitative description of sound wave propagation in suspensions of self-propelled colloidal particles is achieved by combining microfluidics, video microscopy and theory.

From birdsong to human speech, sound is one of the most widely used means of communication among higher life forms. The conceptual foundations for our current theoretical understanding of acoustic signal propagation were laid out in Lord Rayleigh’s ground-breaking treatise1 about one and a half centuries ago. Since then, the transport and manipulation of sounds through passive media, such as gases, liquids and solids, have been investigated extensively, leading to a vast array of technological and biomedical applications. Now, writing in Nature Materials, Delphine Geyer and colleagues2 report a comprehensive experimental and theoretical explanation of sound propagation in an active medium, thereby opening a new window for probing and understanding an exciting class of emergent materials3.

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Fig. 1: Flocking patterns in active fluids.

courtesy of D. Geyer and D. Bartolo

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  1. Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Jörn Dunkel

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  1. Jörn Dunkel
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Correspondence to Jörn Dunkel.

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Dunkel, J. Rolling sound waves. Nature Mater 17, 759–760 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0155-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0155-9

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