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Wiggly worms and quantum objects follow surprisingly similar equations

An equation developed to describe the motion of undulating animals and robots looks like the famous Schrödinger equation from quantum mechanics

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

10 June 2023

Snakes are quite quantum, mathematically speaking

Snakes are quite quantum, mathematically speaking

Shutterstock / Matt Jeppson

The motions of undulating animals and the states of quantum objects can be described using strikingly similar equations.

at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues have found an equation that describes the motion of worms, snakes, centipedes and undulating snake-like robots.

They began by looking at previously recorded laboratory footage of Caenorhabditis elegans worms, Western shovelnose snakes (Chionactis occipitalis), brown centipedes (Lithobius forficatus) and bio-inspired mechanical snake robots in motion. They identified specific movement patterns these undulating creatures perform, and then developed a simple way…

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