Bitty Beasts of Burden: Algae can carry cargo

For thousands of years, people have been coaxing other creatures into doing chores. Now, a team of scientists has microsized the strategy. They’ve devised a way to make single-cell algae bear loads over distances of several centimetersa tactic that the researchers say could prove useful in tiny machines.

ON FOR THE LONG HAUL. Beating its twin flagella, this algal cell lugs a polystyrene bead through water.