Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 6d

Theory and data analysis work done by postdoc MJ Franco-Oñate in my group.

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 6d

This collaboration led by @katecavanaugh.bsky.social from @oweinerlab.bsky.social was particularly inspiring for me: The ideas of active wetting that we developed some years ago actually helped us understand a key biological process. We could not have hoped for more!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Active wetting of epithelial tissues - Nature Physics

An analogy with wetting has proven apt for describing how groups of cells spread on a substrate. But cells are active: they polarize, generate forces and adhere to their surroundings. Experiments now find agreement with an active update to the theory.

www.nature.com

1 2

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 6d

New job, new preprint! We found that embryo implantation can be understood as active wetting! Embryos from older mothers have trouble implanting because they are too contractile and viscous. Check out the wonderful thread (and movies!) by @katecavanaugh.bsky.social.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1 5 15

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 7d

Excited to be back in Barcelona @ub.edu to start a new chapter!

2 19

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 17d

Warm goodbye to Dresden's @mpipks.bsky.social, my scientific home for the past 4 years. It's been amazing to start my group here! Thanks to the Max Planck Society, group members and everyone at the institute! Looking forward to the new chapter in Barcelona @ub.edu

3 1 54

Reposted by Ricard Alert Zenón

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems @mpipks.bsky.social · 19d

IG Nobel Prize in #Physics 2025 to @mpipks.bsky.social researchers for elucidating the phase behaviour of cacio e pepe sauce. The work highlights how physics can also be applied to solve daily-life problems!

nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03045-0

Tipsy bats and perfect pasta: Ig Nobels celebrate ‘improbable’ research

The annual awards are a celebration of weird but thought-provoking science.

nature.com

1 15 45

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 19d

Truly happy to see that our Italian colleagues @mpipks.bsky.social won the IgNobel Prize for figuring out that the Cacio e Pepe sauce can easily phase separate and become clumpy! Very well deserved! Congrats to the team! 😀

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · 19d

Truly chuffed for our fearless food physicists @mpipks.bsky.social + collabs from AT @istaresearch.bsky.social, IT & ES who won this year’s Ig Nobel - the #NobelPrize of hearts❤️for cracking the science of perfect pasta !🍝Kudos to all for intrepidly consuming lots of cheese in the name of science!😋

The Secret to a Smooth Pasta Sauce Wins Ig Nobel Prize

Italian researchers studied how the ingredients of the traditional Roman dish cacio e pepe emulsify into a creamy sauce, winning the 2025 Physics Ig Nobel Prize.

www.the-scientist.com

13

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 19d

This project was motivated by our recent work on frictiotaxis with @mayorlab.bsky.social:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The new simulations show that the mechanism that we proposed still operates in a more complete model with that accounts for cell shape and for intercellular hydrodynamics.

Frictiotaxis underlies focal adhesion-independent durotaxis - Nature Communications

Cells typically migrate toward stiffer substrates via durotaxis, relying on focal adhesions. Here, the authors show that confined cells can migrate up friction gradients without focal adhesions, revea...

www.nature.com

3

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 19d

Check our new preprint on active surface simulations of amoeboid migration! We show how this mode of migration can be mechanically guided by gradients in friction, viscosity, pressure, or confinement, and even by nearby cells. Work led by Hanna Gertack and Sebastian Aland.

arxiv.org/abs/2509.11801

1 1 10

Reposted by Ricard Alert Zenón

Mariona Esquerda Ciutat @marionamec.bsky.social · 20d

🤔Què tenen en comú l’Ou com balla i un àtom?
🎙️El Lluís Torner, fundador de l’ICFO ens ho explica!
👉 Escolta el 2n capítol de La utilitat del coneixement inútil!

Amb el suport d’un Ajut FCRI 2025 @fcri.bsky.social
@soctastaolletes.bsky.social

youtube.com/shorts/Al5mY...

L'àtom com balla!

YouTube video by La Dimoni de Maxwell

youtube.com

4 4

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 21d

Very honored to receive this prize from the Spanish Physical Society! Thanks a lot to all my collaborators, who make this possible!

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems @mpipks.bsky.social · 21d

Congratulations to @ricardalert.bsky.social on being awarded the "Young Investigator Prize in Theoretical Physics” by the Spanish Royal Academy of Physics and the BBVA Foundation! The award is in recognition of his contributions to biological physics.

www.fbbva.es/noticias/fal...

Fallados los Premios de Física RSEF-Fundación BBVA 2025

Conoce a las personas galardonadas en los ámbitos de investigación, las enseñanzas secundaria y universitaria, la innovación, la tecnología y la divulgación

www.fbbva.es

3 2 17

Reposted by Ricard Alert Zenón

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems @mpipks.bsky.social · 22d

Bacteria are surrounded by water! New work @natphys.nature.com by @ricardalert.bsky.social @mpipks.bsky.social & collaborators @ Princeton University shows that water capillary forces organise bacterial colonies into gas, nematic streams, and droplet states.

nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02965-y

2 9 22

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Sep 5

Congrats, David! Super! :)

1 1

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 27

Our paper about active crystals is now out @softmatter.rsc.org! During the revisions, we added a section about triangular lattices, on which the turn-towards or turn-away interactions can be frustrated. Check it out, and see the post below!

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

bsky.app/profile/rica...

2 17

Reposted by Ricard Alert Zenón

Mariona Esquerda Ciutat @marionamec.bsky.social · Aug 24

Has intentat ma fer un gelat casolà i no ha sortit tan cremós com esperaves? T'han quedat uns cristalls que et trinxen les dents? 🍦☀️
A la @soctastaolletes.bsky.social i a mi ens ha passat, però tenim la solució...
youtube.com/shorts/hAXjP...

Gelat de vidre

YouTube video by La Dimoni de Maxwell

youtube.com

4 5

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

Water menisci are a key player in bacterial colonies. Capillary forces are strong and relevant at the bacterial scale! If you know of other roles of water capillary forces in collective cell dynamics, please let me know!

2

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

n these streams, bacteria are densely packed but can still freely move past one another. Capillary forces allow bacteria to pack densely without cell-cell adhesion, avoiding jamming.

1 3

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

Capillary forces organize gliding bacteria into different phases. In the movie, menisci are initially wide but weak, and bacteria form a gas. When water is made less available, capillary forces become strong and organize the colony into nematic streams. Watch until the end!

1 1

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

Capillary attraction also makes bacteria arrange side by side after dividing.

1

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

When their menisci touch, bacterial cells experience capillary attraction. Check out the video! This attractive interaction promotes bacterial aggregation.

2 5

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

Matt and Josh developed an apparatus to control water availability, which directly impacts the pressure, and hence the width of the menisci.

1

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

On hydrated environments, like soil, textiles, and hydrogels, bacteria are surrounded by a meniscus of water. We fit the meniscus profile with a model based on surface tension and the osmotic pressure of extracting water from the substrate.

1 1

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Aug 2

Dreaming of a swimming pool? Bacteria are surrounded by water! Water capillary forces organize bacterial colonies into gas, nematic streams, or droplet states. New paper @natphys.nature.com led by Matt Black and Chenyi Fei, with Ned Wingreen and Josh Shaevitz!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Capillary interactions drive the self-organization of bacterial colonies - Nature Physics

Bacteria tend to live in thin layers of water on surfaces. Now the capillary forces in these layers are shown to help organize the bacteria into dense packs.

www.nature.com

3 13 56

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Jul 2

A Catalunya teníem, a part dels científics, un gran professional de la curiositat: el Tomàtic! 🍅 Què se n'ha fet d'un personatge així a l'era del ChatGPT?

1 1

Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · Jul 2

Curiositat científica: Quant duraria la vida a la terra si en desconnectéssim el camp magnètic?

1