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Bacteria have a secret engineering trick to keep themselves in shape

  • March 10, 2026 at 6:40 PM
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Bacteria have a secret engineering trick to keep themselves in shape
Blow up a long balloon and two things happen: it gets longer and it gets wider. Now imagine a living cell that inflates itself under enormous pressure and yet only grows longer, never adding width. That is exactly what rod-shaped bacteria do, every time they divide, with a precision that has baffled scientists for decades.

Originally published at Phys.org

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