The swimming pattern of protozoa can be a low-cost method of identifying water toxins, according to a new study.

Several species of protozoa are covered in hair-like cilia that beat in a coordinated way to propel them through a fluid.

Chemicals in the fluid can interfere with the transport of calcium to the cilia, with different chemicals bringing about a marked alteration in the microbes’ swimming style, points out Robert Curtis at Petrel Biosensors, a spin-out of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

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