FANCY a quick dip in space-time? A physicist has shown it is possible to swim just by pushing against the curved fabric of space and time.
Basic laws of physics say that it is impossible to propel yourself forwards through space without ejecting part of your mass backwards. But Jack Wisdom at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has demonstrated how to achieve the feat, simply by changing shape in the right way. He was inspired by species of bacteria that shape-shift to propel themselves through water.
On the scale of a bacterium, water is as viscous as treacle. This makes…
