Fig. 8. Sequential images (left to right) from computer simulations of multimodular tensegrities (A,C) or from time-lapse video recording of living cells (B,D). (A) Structural rearrangements within a prestressed tensegrity lattice immediately following release of its anchors (at the top and bottom of the view). Note that the material simultaneously retracts throughout its entire depth. (B) When the ECM adhesions of a spread, adherent cell are dislodged using trypsin, the cell, cytoplasm and nucleus all simultaneously retract as the cell rounds (left to right). (C) A prestressed tensegrity fabric created from 36 interconnected tensegrity modules of the type shown in Fig. 1B that experiences a distending force at the top right corner; the other three corners are fixed. Notice that the entire material responds to the local force and that it exhibits undulating motion. (D) Undulating motion of a lamellipodium in a living cell.

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