Microfluidic Codecs

Go with the flow: A recently published article in Science under the co-authorship of Fuerstman, Garstecki, and Whitesides embarked on a mission to utilize microfluidics as a means to produce a portable coding/encoding (“codec”) device. The complex behavior observed in their system suggests great promise for future investigations (the figure describes a three-body interaction in a loop flow; the shorter upper branch is the preferred route, unless already occupied). A rich test ground is offered on the conception and practical limits of fluidic reversibility.