  Chemical affinities are responsible for driving active matter systems out of
equilibrium. At the nano-scale, molecular machines interact with the
surrounding environment and are subjected to external forces. The
mechano-chemical coupling which arises naturally in these systems reveals a
complex interplay between chemical and mechanical degrees of freedom with
strong impact on their active mechanism. By considering various models far from
equilibrium, we show that the tuning of applied forces give rise to a nonlinear
response that causes a non-monotonic behaviour in the machines' activity. Our
findings have implications in understanding, designing, and triggering such
processes by controlled application of external fields, including the
collective dynamics of larger non-equilibrium systems where the total
dissipation and performance might be affected by internal and inter-particle
interactions.
