Browse Physics

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

The discovery of ferroelecticity in mammalian tissue makes researchers wonder what its purpose is and what it may be useful for.

Paper pyramids hovering in an oscillating air column enlighten us about the stability of flying insects.

Allured by the chic perception and higher funding levels of disease-oriented research, many physicists have migrated to cell biology. Does physics really play a dominant role, or is cellular physiology slave to genetics and chemistry?

New techniques measure mechanical properties of proteins without damaging them.

Spatial variations can drive evolution in certain ecological habitats.

A simple model explores some of the factors that constrain the shape of rodlike bacteria as they grow.

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.

New ways to describe the spread of “persistent” diseases, which can lie dormant in the population for years, are emerging from statistical physics.

DNA replication slows if the number of defects in a genome is above a threshold value.

Given that vaccine supplies are often limited, a quantitative understanding of how the number and frequency of vaccinations can affect the growth rate of disease would be useful. Physicists show that even a small number of randomly vaccinated individuals can exponentially increase the extinction rate of a disease.