Physics

Soap maze solving skills can unlock the secrets of the human body

A schematic diagram showing how the transport model (2) is implemented in a maze that mimics the experiment is shown. The maze topology is modeled by a 1D branching network (blue). Along each edge, use the model results to transfer the exogenous surfactant front (red). Credit: Physics Review Letters (2025). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.034001

An international team of scientists has discovered that soap is important for helping understand complex systems in the human body, such as the lungs, and for improving treatments for conditions such as respiratory distress syndrome.

Over the past few years, researchers have discovered that surfactants (molecules found in soap) can naturally find their way through mazes using the shortest path.

Although the discovery may sound a bit unique, the discovery mimics the transport process in complex branched networks found in the human body, such as the lungs. It may hold the key to understanding how fluids, such as certain drugs, move through these networks.

Now scientists at the University of Manchester, working with colleagues in France and the United States, have published a theory in the journal Physics Review Letters that explains this phenomenon.

Dr Richard McNair, a research fellow in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester, said: ‘When we put soap into a liquid-filled maze, we introduce the natural surfactants already present in the liquid interaction, creating an omniscient view of the maze. So soap can intuitively find the correct path, ignoring all other irrelevant paths.

“This behavior occurs because of the very subtle but powerful physics in which the two types of surfactants create tension that guides the soap to exit.”

Credit: Richard McNair et al

The researchers used advanced mathematical models and simulations to recreate how these forces glean awareness of the maze’s overall shape and structure. This mechanism helps scientists understand how materials move in confined spaces in complex, branching environments.

“We have uncovered an important mechanism that helps us understand how fluids move through complex networks. In this experiment, we used milk and soap, but we also “The findings could have implications for improving medical treatment,” says Professor Oliver Jensen.

Surfactants are substances that help liquids spread. They occur naturally in human lungs, and when doctors treat lung diseases, they sometimes use “exogenous surfactants” (from external sources) to make the lungs work better. However, surfactants already in the lungs can interfere with these treatments, making it more difficult for added surfactants to travel through the airways to where they are needed most.

This study helps scientists understand why surfactant therapy does not always work as expected. Especially for diseases like Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), where mortality rates are high and more effective treatments can be designed.

“But the applications of this research haven’t stopped,” Dr. McNair said. “Other systems, such as microfluidic devices that transport chemicals and other substances through complex networks, are being developed through better design of these systems. You can benefit from this insight to inform and inevitably reduce costs.”

The research team has already developed a preliminary model that includes a surfactant diffusing realistic lung-scale geometry that could directly link the results of this study to clinically relevant studies.

More information: Richard McNair et al, Exogenous-endogenous surfactant interactions result in heterogeneous diffusion in complex branching networks, Physics Review Letters (2025). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.034001

Provided by University of Manchester

Quote: SOAP Maze Solving Skills Lock Human Body Secrets Retrieved January 26, 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-01-soap-maze-skills-secrets-human.html May be canceled (January 24, 2025)

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