Drunk Worms Wiggle Their Method to an Ig Nobel Win

The 34^th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes have been introduced on September 12, 2024. Identified to highlight “analysis that makes folks snigger…then suppose,” the ten accolades don’t shrink back from a spectrum of distinctive subjects—from crops imitating plastic to mammalian anus-breathing.^1,2

Daniel Bonn, a physicist, and Sander Woutersen, a bodily chemist, together with their colleagues on the College of Amsterdam, have been awarded the chemistry prize for racing drunk and sober worms via a chromatography maze to kind them by their wriggly exercise to raised perceive polymer dynamics.³  “We’re very excited,” mentioned Bonn. “We’ve had a tough time shutting up about it.”

A lot of Bonn’s work encompasses the Ig Nobel spirit; he beforehand reported on how you can construct the excellent sandcastle and why quicksand can not absolutely submerge its victims.^4,5 Extra not too long ago, energetic polymers, that are able to self-propulsion and play organic roles in cell membrane construction and sperm motility, caught his consideration. As energetic polymers are troublesome to create and observe, given their microscopic measurement, Bonn discovered a singular macro mannequin: the skinny, aquatic Tubifex tubifex worms. Their segmented our bodies resemble polymers that encompass repeating items and, most significantly, show energetic movement. So, Bonn and his colleagues got down to discover the physics of those dynamic, polymer-like worms.

Chemists and different life science researchers typically use pillar-array chromatography to separate molecules via a maze of pillars. For instance, it may well separate DNA strands and polymers of various lengths primarily based on how lengthy it takes for every one to maneuver via the column. Woutersen considered a singular use of this device.

I believe the perfect lesson from the experiment, not less than for me, is that when a drunk worm is wrapped round a lamppost and a sober worm passes by, he often takes the drunk worm with him.
– Daniel Bonn, College of Amsterdam

“We had the concept that we might separate worms primarily based on size,” mentioned Woutersen. “Clearly, the lengthy ones get caught extra simply round pillars and at equal lengths, then you’ll be able to separate them on exercise.” They wanted to get inactive worms. After initially toying round with the morbid concept of euthanizing the worms, the group got here up with a extra humane methodology—anesthetizing the worms with alcohol.⁶

As a substitute of taking the worms to a tiny tavern, the researchers intoxicated worms by quickly inserting them into a 3 to 5 p.c ethanol answer, which additionally contained a small quantity of methylene blue dye. “It labored like a allure; [the worms] get fully drunk,” mentioned Woutersen. “However if you happen to put them in water once more, they resurrect and change into sober once more in 20 minutes, with none headache or different issues.” 

To match exercise, they positioned the worms—the naturally reddish worms have been sober, whereas blue worms have been drunk—right into a maze, a hexagonal pillar assay with distilled water flowing alongside its size, and measured the time spent by the worm within the channel. Woutersen anticipated the drunken worms to exit the maze quicker as a result of they’d “flow” and the energetic worms to get caught alongside the pillars. To his shock, the intoxicated worms exhibited much less exercise and sober worms tended to curve and knot, which helped them navigate via the pillars. Inside a couple of minutes, it was clear that sober worms had a better and quicker time traversing throughout the maze to get to the end line.

“However the unhappy conclusion is that the drunk worms get residence very late,” mentioned Woutersen. Bonn likened the method to the aftermath of an evening of revelry on the pub, the place drunk folks typically latched onto lampposts and mentioned, “Our maze is definitely little pillars, and so the drunk worms truly wrap themselves across the pillars and by no means get residence.”

Whereas the work solutions some questions, it additionally raises new ones about utilizing these wriggling worms as a mannequin for finding out the separation of energetic polymers. In any case, these worms resonate with the human perspective.

“I believe the perfect lesson from the experiment, not less than for me, is that when a drunk worm is wrapped round a lamppost and a sober worm passes by, he often takes the drunk worm with him. So, the ethical of the story is, if you happen to go to the pub, any person wants to stay sober and convey all people residence,” mentioned Bonn.