In a tank in an underground laboratory in Cambridge a little green alga is executing a powerful breaststroke. It belongs to a group of algae called volvocales and it doesn't have a brain. So how can it coordinate its tiny little "arms" to perform motions worthy of an Olympic swimmer?

In this podcast Ray Goldstein, Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems at Cambridge, explains how algae manage to synchronise their so-called flagella, what this means for human physiology, and how it sheds light on the evolution of multi-cellular organisms from single-celled ones.

You can also watch the accompanying article:
https://plus.maths.org/content/synchronised-swimming

Or watch the video
https://plus.maths.org/content/ray-goldstein-synchronised-swimming

Sound effects in this podcast are from Robinhood76 and 16HPanskaKanclirova_Victoria on freesound.org