Many microbes have only very limited freedom of movement in their natural environment. Like in a maze, they are blocked from moving in straight lines in soils or even in the human body. That means, they have to navigate through structures full of curves and edges. In the process, highly directional movement patterns can emerge, as physicists from the University of Bayreuth and Loughborough University in the UK have now discovered. In the journal PNAS, they present their findings, which could be used for the control of microrobots and the targeted delivery of medical agents in the body.