Gut Coils With Help From Its Elastic Neighbor

Between conception and birth, the human gut grows more than two meters long, looping and coiling within the tiny abdomen. Within a given species, the developing vertebrate gut always loops into the same formation - however, until now, it has not been clear why. Using a combination of experimental observations, biological and biophysical manipulations, theory, and computation, researchers at Harvard have shown that a "simple" balance of forces determines the form of the gut. The finding may shed light on how the gut has been able to evolve to accommodate changes in diet...

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