Browse Physics

The circular swimming motion of self-propelled, L-shaped microparticles may provide insight into microorganisms that are similarly lacking in symmetry.

Experiments probe how specific base-pair sequences within a DNA strand behave when the molecule is twisted.

A model describing the brain as a system close to a phase transition can capture the global dynamics of brain activity observed in fMRI experiments.

The composition of cells in tissues can be found using statistical fluctuations of cell types.

Hairlike sensory cells in our ears may detect weak auditory signals through a synchronization process, according to new experiments.

When exposed to light, swimming microalgae converge to the center of a pipe—a behavior that could prove advantageous for certain industrial uses of these organisms.

The efficient functioning of the brain cortex relies on a highly interconnected set of neuronal columns, which includes enough links between the most distant columns.

A statistical model favors an unexpected mechanism for avoiding duplicated genetic material in certain viruses.

Experiments show that blood plasma has elastic properties that could influence the way blood flows through small vessels.

A new way to characterize the encoding of signals from the retina defines a distance between different stimuli according to the similarity of their neural responses.

Two different mechanisms give a protein its required flexibility.

Experiments explain how DNA strands can be captured at their extremities by nanoscale pores.

The near-uniform leaf size of the tallest trees is set by the requirements of their vascular network.

Flagella on the surface of a multicellular alga can beat in an unexpectedly synchronized fashion.

A nanowalker made of DNA moves along biomolecules without chemically altering them.

The flexibility of a DNA strand affects its activities in cells and depends on its length. Atomic-scale computer simulations begin to explain why the length matters.

A new model of DNA is able to reproduce the observed features of self-organizing nanostructures in DNA origami.

Advances in extracting an image from a multimode optical fiber will make thinner endoscopes possible.

A new model of molecular motors working in unison finds that motor-motor interactions can boost the efficiency of the system.

Simulations on neural networks show that one single neuronal spike in a sequence of billions can affect how information is processed.