Access

News Feature

Nature 448, 984-986 (30 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/448984a; Published online 29 August 2007

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

Physics in the cell: Spring theory

Brendan Maher1

  1. Brendan Maher is a features editor at Nature.

Top

Physicists interested in the mechanics of single molecules are helping open one of the blackest boxes in biology. Brendan Maher discovers how the disciplines are working together.

When trying to explain why he has become fascinated by physics lately, Kerry Bloom, a cell and molecular biologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, pulls a handful of paper clips from his pocket and links them together. Stretching a small chain across the surface of his palm, he says: "Imagine this is DNA.