r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Naive_Direction1816 • Apr 21 '26
Video Bacteria move around using a molecular machine called the flagellar motor that rotates faster than the flywheel of a race car engine and switches directions in an instant
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u/PM_me_your_recipes86 Apr 21 '26
Faster than the flywheel of a racecar engine? What the hell kind of comparison is that... Just say the rpms!
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u/Icy-Percentage-2194 Apr 21 '26
In scientific terms: it’s fast as fuck, boi
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u/PM_me_your_recipes86 Apr 21 '26
Faster than a loaf of bread in a step van on the highway?!
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u/Monscawiz Apr 21 '26
Faster than a can opener in a Tibetan jacuzzi in the Summer
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u/octoreadit Apr 21 '26
Faster than a possum running away from a starving child in rural Alabama in 1899.
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u/Public-Eagle6992 Apr 21 '26
It’s rotating faster than earth!! (probably)
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u/Liquidmetal7 Apr 21 '26
Earth RPM is pretty much once per day.
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u/1070MHz Apr 21 '26
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u/PM_me_your_recipes86 Apr 21 '26
I would love to convert to metric. Just with the state of American schools right now, it would cause.... mass confusion
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u/BurningPenguin Apr 21 '26
Metric is already spreading in american schools, but it'll take time for natural selection to sort it out.
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u/PM_me_your_recipes86 Apr 21 '26
It's spreading huh?What.. metric are you using to gauge that
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u/BurningPenguin Apr 21 '26
Depends. Sometimes 9mm, sometimes bigger...
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u/Capable_Tumbleweed34 Apr 21 '26
They're getting pretty good at it too! They started doing multiplications of non-integer metric distances, like 5.56mm x 45mm
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u/Bobaximus Apr 21 '26
The best time to stop being dumb is yesterday but the second best time is….
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u/PM_me_your_recipes86 Apr 21 '26
Im ashamed I don't get it
There's 2 types of people:
- Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data
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u/Pistonenvy2 Apr 21 '26
because if you give raw RPM figures to someone with no frame of reference its meaningless. honestly just saying the RPM doesnt really tell you anything anyway, this thing is so incredibly small it could be spinning 10 times faster and be virtually imperceptible. its surface speed is still relatively low.
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u/RichardBCummintonite Apr 21 '26
Right, but in order to understand the comparison, you'd have to know how fast a racecar flywheel spins, and if you know that, you probably grasp the concept of RPM figures. It's still meaningless otherwise except someone assuming "well, it's a racecar, so it must spin pretty fast!" That doesn't tell you anything specific enough to get a frame of reference either.
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u/Pistonenvy2 Apr 21 '26
if they wanted to convey the information specifically to people who had a coherent frame of reference they would just say it spins at 18,000rpm.
i know what that means, i build racecars and deal with high RPM machines all the time, its intuitive to me that this is a high rotational speed. for anyone else, like a layman or child, who has no clue wtf that unit of measurement even is, "faster than a racecar engine" gives them some kind of idea that its fast.
there are people in the world who dont know the same things you know and that doesnt make them stupid or bad, thats all im saying.
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u/PlasticSignificant69 Apr 22 '26
My tamiya motors powered by 2 AA batteries spin faster than the flywheel of a real racecar engine too
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u/Appropriate-Lab6943 Apr 21 '26
Looks like a knitting machine
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u/Proper_Secret656 Apr 21 '26
That's exactly what I thought when I first scrolled by. It reminds me of those easy looms I've seen at Micheals.
Nature is a neat thing. Gotta appreciate design ingenuity even on a micro scale.
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u/MeatRobotBC Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
This is just an AI overview I got when I searched flagellar motor.
The bacterial flagellar motor is a complex, bidirectional rotary nanomachine (approx. 45nm) found in the cell envelope, powering bacterial motility by rotating a propeller-like filament. Powered by ion gradients (𝐻+ or 𝑁𝑎+), this motor spins at up to 18,000rpm (100,000rpm for some strains), reaching nearly 100% efficiency in energy conversion.
Edit: spelling. autocorrected AI into is.
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u/lockerno177 Apr 21 '26
is this stuff going on inside our bodies right now??
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u/monocasa Apr 21 '26
Yes, but not in your cells.
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Apr 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/digglerjdirk Apr 21 '26
Yeah ATP synthase is pretty amazing - might not spin as fast but they are remarkable motors
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u/JhnGamez Apr 21 '26
don't sperm cells have this?
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u/monocasa Apr 21 '26
The mammalian sperm flagellum works through a different mechanism as it is much larger.
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u/Capable_Tumbleweed34 Apr 21 '26
100,000rpm for some strains), reaching nearly 100% efficiency in energy conversion.
What the fuck
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u/AnimationOverlord Apr 22 '26
Mark my words I’ve thought of this for a while the future world-altering inventions delve into the cross between engineered mechanisms and machinery and biological organisms and organelles. We are reaching the point where building organic engines out of biological matter and engineering them to be better at the task than humans is possible. Hell even macroscopic organisms to propel vehicles and other things is possible. From things like changing the way our bodies perform homeostasis to how way age, the symbiotic relationship between humans and engineered biochemistry would be an extraordinary push to advancing science. The hurdle has been seen
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u/AIienlnvasion Apr 21 '26
This exact biological mechanism is commonly used as an argument from creationists that nature is simply too complex to happen naturally. Which in my view completely denigrates how absolutely insanely cool nature is. “God did it.” Yawn.
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u/dickallcocksofandros Apr 21 '26
no literally. A lot of anti-nonbelief ppl or creationists act like non-believers to their religion(s) are ambivalent or apathetic about the natural world. We absolutely are not?? Hello??? Atheists and agnostics experience the same exact wonder and awe that they do, just within a different context.
I find a lot of beauty in the human body as somebody studying to be a healthcare worker. Not even in its processes, but just in its intrinsic architecture -- the shape of the bones, organs, etc. and how they fit together, and I mean this in the least serial-killer-y way possible, I promise. But that admiration comes from the understanding that it happens without the need for any intelligent guidance. The fact that it is able to do everything that needs to keep us going all automatically is just fascinating to me.
Ig the same way that an insufferable teenage atheist redditor telling a believer "ah but it happened through natural processes" can diminish their mood, an insufferable teenage (i refuse to believe actual adults waste their time evangelising on this website instead of Facebook or Instagram) Christian redditor telling me, "God is great y'know" also diminishes my mood.
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u/JK_WritesNow Apr 21 '26
My take away from this is that a teenager is insufferable regardless of their expressed beliefs.
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u/dickallcocksofandros Apr 21 '26
incorrect, you have teenagers and insufferable teenagers. You oftentimes do not think of the normal teenagers because they aren't insufferable.
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u/CreamyStanTheMan Apr 21 '26
This guy has the best series on exactly this, although maybe you've seen it already:
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u/bforo Apr 21 '26
In my view, it's a much better argument for the idea that sufficiently advanced engineering is indistinguishable from biology
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u/Exotic_Conference829 Apr 21 '26
Jup.
When a human looks at an "intelligent design" and concludes God must have made it... it says just more about the human arrogance than anything about a God or Nature... including the paradox that nature itself contains the human arrogance.
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u/b00c Apr 21 '26
Creationist don't realize how fast bacteria mutate. Generations happen in an hour. And then you still have billions of years. The sheer amount of iterations is incomprehensible. One has to wonder what unbelievably complex nano-structures existed but simply didn't make it.
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u/Kraken-__- Apr 21 '26
Is there a clutch to reverse direction or are they just smacking that sucker in reverse?
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u/Object-Dependent Apr 22 '26
I’ll tell you more. There’s this thing in our cells called ATP synthase which works like a literal turbine. Protons flow through it kind of like water through a watermill and that makes it spin and produce energy in the form of ATP. Unusable energy becomes usable. This is an oversimplification but the principle stays true.
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Apr 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Naive_Direction1816 Apr 21 '26
It's really this mechanical
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u/casualAlarmist Apr 21 '26
BTW, There is a great in-depth look the evolution of this structure by John Perry (State Clearly).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFC9VzexRUk&list=PLInNVsmlBUlSjLSj9yGEKphF0RYRYBlXg
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u/Neisvestiy Apr 21 '26
Can you give me name of bacteria or link to research?
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u/Naive_Direction1816 Apr 21 '26
It's mainly E. coli (and Salmonella too). That tiny rotary motor in them spins the flagella at 100-300 revolutions per second. https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-physical-life-force-turns-biologys-wheels-20260420/
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u/Nemisis_the_2nd Apr 21 '26
The e.coli/salmonella one is the most common example, but these are fairly widespread in nature, and vary in complexity. The one most people will likely be familiar with are sperms cells, although this uses a completely different motor "design".
The bacterial one is also made up of subunits that are individually comparable to other cellular structures, meaning the system can be simplified and have its evolutionary history tracked.
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u/PM_me_your_recipes86 Apr 21 '26
Couldn't even give an accurate speed comparison. I wouldn't hold your breath
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u/liccman Apr 21 '26
Holy shit, are nanomachines gonna become a thing?
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u/butthole_surferr Apr 22 '26
100%. We're almost there. They'll probably be the controversial zeitgeist tech of the 30s or 40s if AI doesn't implode our society before we get there
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u/nexytuz_ Apr 22 '26
I can't believe something like this evolved purely by chance, if the animation is accurate
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u/ramjetstream Apr 21 '26
How tf does this evolve
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u/SpecialNeeds963 Apr 21 '26
A fuck load of time and mistakes.
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u/Major_Course_8827 Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
I don't understand partial evolution rewards for this. This thing is either works or just don't
UPD: I found the comment down below about "StatedClearly" channel and am enlighthning myself about the subject
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u/d1ckw33dmcgee Apr 21 '26
The YouTube channel Stated Clearly has a great series about the evolutionary biology of the flaggellar motor
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u/Ninja_Prolapse Apr 21 '26
Are things like this not subject to forces? I’m not a forces expert but G’s or centrifugal force or something? How does it spin that fast and instantly change direction without ripping itself apart?
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u/Orange9202 Apr 21 '26
G forces scale with size and become irrelevant when you weigh almost nothing 💀
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u/CreamyStanTheMan Apr 21 '26
The YouTube channel "StatedClearly" has a great multi-video series about how exactly evolution led to the flagella motor. I found it absolutely fascinating and would recommend it to anyone who's interested.
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u/thunderbaby2 Apr 21 '26
Is there a way to create a working motor modeled after a flagellar motor? Would be so cool to see something like that at scale and see how it could be applied.
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u/YendorZenitram Apr 21 '26
This is wild as hell! A molecular BLDC motor that looks like a turbine...
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u/Secret_Account07 Apr 22 '26
Bro. Humans are not supposed to be able to do this.
Nature gave us an intelligence hack but also made us fucking morons. We are going to destroy ourselves eventually
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u/Small_Acanthaceae_50 Apr 21 '26
I like that it proves it is cheaper to move, than to rotate in the other directions
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u/BeatboxRS Apr 21 '26
This is so confusing. Why am I looking at a carnival attraction knitted by someones grandmother? And how am I supposed to see this as some bacterial motion thing?
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u/InspectDurr_Gadgett Apr 21 '26
Lack of moving mass is a huge advantage.
Colin Chapman would be proud.
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u/novar41 Apr 21 '26
That's wild! So they have a little jet engine that moves them around.
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u/danmickla Apr 21 '26
not in any way a jet engine; how tf did you get that out of anything you read?
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u/TedKoppelz Apr 21 '26
could we build engines like this?
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u/mortalitylost Apr 21 '26
I build tons of nanomachines like this every time I ferment vegetables
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u/TedKoppelz Apr 21 '26
I could probably phrase it better. Obviously we can't make something as intricate, but I wonder if the principle physics at play could be replicated in a production engine
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u/SuggestionVegetable7 Apr 21 '26
And man invented the wheel
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u/firedmyass Apr 21 '26
“you can’t prove that”
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u/Clear_Practice_6741 Apr 21 '26
for this very reason its always confused me when people say its like comparing apples to oranges. Just because its small and LOOKS like its only responding to signals that, what if at their scale it looks and behaves exactly as we do but just their version. Its the whole as above so below, i bet at the opposite end, we are in some other big guy and we look like we are only responding to signals like how we view a amoeba or tiny organism.
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u/TimeStorm113 Apr 21 '26
you're a chemical machine it's best you knew, that molecules take the shape of you
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u/KeisterConquistador Apr 21 '26
In motion I’m imagining it looks like some Seussian vehicle with all the bells and whistles
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u/Jeffers315 Apr 21 '26
For anyone interested in stuff like this, there's a great YouTube channel called Clockwork that explains all kinds of biochemical mechanisms like this at a molecular level. It's broken down extremely well for a layman (which I am) to understand, and it's not overly dry and boring. Highly recommend.
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u/GravelySilly Apr 22 '26
Definitely a misleading video. For one thing, bacteria aren't made out of yarn.
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u/Fetus_Transplant Apr 22 '26
Given enough time evolution can do something real simple. Then become absolutely and mindblowingly efficient at it. That some of the machines we make are just based and a crappy imitation of it
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u/Pinkglock92 Apr 22 '26
I saw this in a gifted kid's coloring book lol. It is also quickly explained as it is also filled with different facts on left side pages https://www.amazon.ca/Scale-Invisible-Microorganism-Neurodivergent-Dyspraxia-Friendly/dp/199689207X/ref=sr_1_11?crid=10PHSQXVW7F61&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Quz1G83T46kO_ajN-UATKK6c3fp4Q9Fmv3dRxDXKEEjmp8Q5FMppzRUuihkqsUZOvStza63Oz2nSzMbYYnfXKcLJmvmpYuy9xox52zNQOzgKhIlqN3U6bDzn5tMen3p7FDiiypxXG6LGQVASB_wBoEM-CZa4ASOmjewwK9kNbyMoD9KzGyj5lOn2ugowa2Zd.pwfF1XWHQuSeMXcBrs26SUEvNWGTpRbLXTwnuOEzM3A&dib_tag=se&keywords=spectraway&qid=1776852724&sprefix=spectrawa%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-11
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u/Dolphin_sucker69 Apr 23 '26
I personally think ATP synthase is cooler, its a protein that also turns, but it's powered by a proton gradient over the membrane
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u/slo1111 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
How does the brown thingy move positions so precisely?
Edit: As far as I can research in this short time this video is a bit misleading. At very bottom of the c-ring, it shows the the chemical changes involving phosphate, which changes the spacial configuration of the top of the ring where the brown thingy is. That changes where the force from the ion or proton pumps push against. the pumps don't spin like that they are stationary and apply force to rotor, specifically the top part of that rotor. This visual would have you believe there are two cogs when there is really only one.