(Article by Rohini Subrahmanyam originally published by Knowable Magazine)

As the microscopic, tear-shaped Lacrymaria olor  swims around hunting for food, it does something remarkable: In a blink, the tiny protist extends its neck more than 30 times its body length, snatching up unwitting prey.

Then, just as quickly, the neck withdraws, returning to its original size. The movement is akin to a six-foot human suddenly stretching their neck some 200 feet and then snapping it back to normal.

This acrobatic behavior had been observed for more than a hundred years, yet only in 2024 did scientists finally understand how L. olor manages to whip out and store its neck so deftly.

The tiny hunter uses a kind of cellular origami : It folds its external membrane in pleats that it can unfold,

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