Directing tubular traffic

Researchers have shown that they can combine a biological motor and an electric field to steer individual protein tubes along tiny channels of a glass chip.

GOING MY WAY? This artist’s rendering shows light-blue kinesin molecules using their two heads to propel red- and green-labeled microtubules through microchannels. Delft Univ. of Technology, Tremani

Within living cells, a two-headed protein called kinesin acts as a biological motor, hauling cargo.