Browse Physics

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

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

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.

Orderly flow in fluid extracted from a living cell results from the spontaneous organization of randomly-oriented, microscopic forces.

The atomic force microscope, introduced in 1986, provided atomic-scale pictures of surfaces, with few limitations on the type of sample.

Models show how the length of filaments in cells can be tightly controlled by balancing continual growth with shrinkage caused by molecular motors.

The binding of two proteins is strongest in regions where the packing of surrounding water molecules is already disrupted.

A new technique measures the strength with which viruses attach to cells by detecting individual virus-binding and unbinding events.

A theoretical model of neurons associated with hearing may explain why certain note combinations are more pleasing than others. New research supports the theory by quantifying the effect.

Two different kinds of mechanical stresses explain the unique reversal of rotation during the growth of a fungus, according to a new theory.

A statistical analysis reveals new organizational structure within the genetic code–“superstructures” containing hundreds of genes that appear to have related functions.

A mathematical model for swarming locusts suggests that their random direction switches occur after small errors of many individuals add up to a large effect.

Water molecules driven into a cell membrane spontaneously generate holes through the membrane, according to simulations. The process has been used in the lab but not fully understood at the molecular scale.

Simulations show that when a particle trapped in a fluid-filled pipe moves, it can affect distant particles in the pipe and even pull them in the opposite direction.

Simulations suggest that a set of cells in the eye can act like optical fibers to guide light through obscuring layers to the cells that detect light.

Fruit flies make acrobatic turns by controlling just one parameter, according to high-speed video data.

Experiments show that swimming microorganisms can change a fluid’s viscosity. Not all of the effects can be explained by current theories.

Three papers explain aspects of the size and structure of natural supply networks such as blood vessels and leaf veins.

Detailed images of surface waves on the membrane of a living cell support a theory that the protein machinery involved in the cell’s locomotion are responsible for the waves.

A new technique provides a 3-D view of the organized motion of swimming bacteria.