Conventional soft actuators are often limited by weak force, small displacement, and slow response. To overcome these limitations, researchers have developed a new mechanical system that can amplify motion and remember external triggers through the interaction between magnets and elastic membranes.

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a joint research team led by Prof. Jeong-Yun Sun from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Prof. Ho-Young Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed a new class of soft actuator based on elasto-magnetic instability, a mechanism that couples magnetic attraction with elastic restoring force.

The study was published in Nature Communications on January 10, 2026, under the title “Elasto-magnetic instabilities for amplified actuation and mechanical memory,” with Seong-Yu Choi and Ji-Sung Park contributing equally as co-first authors.

Engineered microorganisms are widely used in industrial biotechnology and biopharmaceutical applications, including the production of biofuels, sustainable chemicals, and therapeutic compounds. However, concerns remain regarding the unintended environmental release and uncontrolled proliferation of genetically engineered microbes. For this reason, biocontainment technologies, which are designed to prevent microorganisms from surviving outside controlled environments, have become increasingly important in both academia and industry.

Scientists have demonstrated a fiber-optic sensing method that detects strain and displacement by reading interference patterns in the electrical spectrum after photodetection. The approach uses modal delay in polymer optical fibers and may support faster, simpler sensing systems.