Overview
- A team led by CNRS physicists published experiments showing the flytrap activates closure by quickly softening the cell walls on the outer surface of the lobe, which lets that side expand more than the inner side and produces bending.
- The closing motion unfolds in two stages: an active bending phase that begins in about a second and a fast snap‑buckling event that finishes in roughly 0.2 seconds.
- Direct mechanical tests with a nanoindenter, force sensors and experiments cutting or clamping lobes found outer walls lose roughly 30–40 percent of their rigidity during activation and that the gradual bend precedes the rapid snap.
- Measured water transport across the trap would take about 30–150 seconds, so simple hydraulic swelling is too slow to drive the observed sub‑second initiation of closure.
- Authors say the work reveals a muscle‑free actuation strategy useful for soft robotics, but they and outside plant physiologists note the molecular trigger and possible fast water‑transport alternatives remain unresolved.