Controlling emergent behavior of biological active matter through individual manipulation

Most active systems display either spatial order or temporal synchronization, resulting from the interactions among the constituent units. It is well-known that the single-particle level activity has a vital influence on the global pattern formation. However, a precise and efficient method to control the macroscopic self-organization through individual manipulation is still lacking, particularly in the context of biological active matter. Here we seek to regulate single-celled bacterial mobility in a dense-packed population by applying external stimuli, hence enabling the control of large-scale spatiotemporal order. Our approach may pave the way to the development of controllable biological active materials.