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Polymer gel squeezes and strains like an intestine - A reaction best known for the attractive swirling patterns it produces in a Petri dish is more than just a pretty face, chemists in Japan have shown. The researchers have found that the oscillating chemical waves of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction are strong enough to carry a cargo, driving it along a length of smart polymer tubing using contractions - just like an intestine. Reference: Y Shiraki and R Yoshida, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2012, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201202028