Biological physics articles within Nature Physics

Featured

  • Article |

    Solids embedded with fluid inclusions are intuitively softer than their pure counterparts. But experiments show that when the droplets are small enough, material can become stiffer—highlighting a role for surface tension.

    • Robert W. Style
    • , Rostislav Boltyanskiy
    •  & Eric R. Dufresne

  • News & Views |

    A cable-like ring of biopolymers helps to pull cells together across the site of a wound. Widely thought to be homogeneous, the traction forces involved are actually remarkably heterogeneous — revealing an unexpected pattern of force generation during wound repair.

    • Miranda V. Hunter
    •  & Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez

  • Article |

    How do flocks of birds remain cohesive while dodging predators? A study tracking up to 400 starlings reveals that information propagates in a linear fashion and with no attenuation, meaning that the language of phase transitions in correlated materials can be used to describe flocking behaviour.

    • Alessandro Attanasi
    • , Andrea Cavagna
    •  & Massimiliano Viale

  • Research Highlights |

    • Abigail Klopper

  • Article |

    Frequency changes in the partial tones of a sound can affect the way we perceive it, a phenomenon generally understood to be cortical in origin. A mesoscopic model now attributes perceived pitch to a physical mechanism linked to the presence of the cochlear fluid.

    • Florian Gomez
    •  & Ruedi Stoop

  • Letter |

    Bacteria often reside in fluids. Now, it is shown that hydrodynamic shear, which creates forces and torques on bacterial suspensions, stimulates the attachment of bacteria to surfaces and seriously hinders chemotaxis.

    • Roberto Rusconi
    • , Jeffrey S. Guasto
    •  & Roman Stocker

  • Research Highlights |

    • Abigail Klopper

  • Article |

    Models for the topology or dynamics of various networks abound, but until now, there has been no single universal framework for complex networks that can separate factors contributing to the topology and dynamics of networks across biological and social systems.

    • Baruch Barzel
    •  & Albert-László Barabási

  • Article |

    A study of an actomyosin active gel now demonstrates the importance of the crosslinking density of actin polymers in enabling myosin motors to internally drive contraction and rupture the network into clusters. These results could help us to better understand the role of the cytoskeleton in cell division and tissue morphogenesis.

    • José Alvarado
    • , Michael Sheinman
    •  & Gijsje H. Koenderink

  • News & Views |

    High-resolution imaging of neuronal networks reveals that spontaneous bursts of collective activity are a consequence of an implosive concentration of noise.

    • John M. Beggs

  • Article |

    Neuronal networks can spontaneously exhibit periodic bursts of collective activity. High-resolution calcium imaging and computer modelling of in vitro cultures now reveal that this behaviour is a consequence of noise focusing—an implosive concentration of spontaneous activity due to the interplay between network topology and intrinsic neuronal dynamics.

    • Javier G. Orlandi
    • , Jordi Soriano
    •  & Jaume Casademunt

  • Research Highlights |

    • Abigail Klopper

  • Letter |

    Networks competing for limited resources are often more vulnerable than isolated systems, but competition can also prove beneficial—and even prevent network failure in some cases. A new study identifies how best to link networks to capitalize on competition.

    • J. Aguirre
    • , D. Papo
    •  & J. M. Buldú

  • Article |

    Photosynthesis is remarkably efficient. The transport of optically generated excitons from absorbing pigments, through protein complexes, to reaction centres is nearly perfect. Simulations now uncover the microscopic mechanism that drives this coherent behaviour: interactions between the excitons and the vibrational modes of the pigment-protein complex.

    • A. W. Chin
    • , J. Prior
    •  & M. B. Plenio

  • Research Highlights |

    • Abigail Klopper

  • Review Article |

    Could biological systems have evolved to find the optimal quantum solutions to the problems thrown at them by nature? This Review presents an overview of the possible quantum effects seen in photosynthesis, avian magnetoreception and several other biological systems.

    • Neill Lambert
    • , Yueh-Nan Chen
    •  & Franco Nori

  • Editorial |

    As the 2012 celebration of Turing's life and work draws to a close, we highlight different events that showcase Turing's continuing influence on science, technology and art.

  • Commentary |

    The Physical Sciences–Oncology Centers in the US bring together scientists from all backgrounds to tackle some of the most important questions in cancer research.

    • David B. Agus
    •  & Franziska Michor

  • News & Views |

    Technologies aimed at single-molecule resolution of non-equilibrium systems increasingly require sophisticated new ways of thinking about thermodynamics. An elegant extension to standard fluctuation theory grants access to the kinetic intermediate states of these systems — as DNA-pulling experiments now demonstrate.

    • Jan Liphardt

  • Article |

    Short-lived kinetic states between equilibria are difficult to access experimentally, despite being crucial in many dynamical processes. Single-molecule experiments demonstrate that an extended fluctuation relation allows extraction of the free energies of these metastable states under non-equilibrium conditions.

    • Anna Alemany
    • , Alessandro Mossa
    •  & Felix Ritort

  • News & Views |

    Cells migrate en masse to generate and renew tissue — but inadequate resolution and incompatible timescales obscure the mechanism behind this migration. A unique approach reveals that stress mediates collective motion by propagating in a wave from the leading edge to the population centre.

    • Manuel Théry

  • Article |

    Tissue growth and regrowth rely on the collective migration of sheets of cells. Gradients in tension established through intercellular forces guide this migration, but the mechanism driving the gradients has remained unclear. Innovative experiments now reveal their origin—in a mechanical wave set up by sequential cell reinforcement and fluidization.

    • Xavier Serra-Picamal
    • , Vito Conte
    •  & Xavier Trepat

  • Article |

    There is growing evidence that quantum coherence enhances energy transfer through individual photosynthetic light-harvesting protein complexes. This idea is now extended to complicated networks of such proteins and chemical reaction centres. A mathematical analysis reveals that coherence lengths up to 5 nm are possible.

    • A. K. Ringsmuth
    • , G. J. Milburn
    •  & T. M. Stace

  • News & Views |

    Biological systems can adapt to changes in their environment over a wide range of conditions, but responding quickly and accurately is energetically costly. A study pins down the relationship between energy, speed and accuracy.

    • Pieter Rein ten Wolde

  • News & Views |

    Migrating cells are capable of actively opposing external forces. A study of the polymers that mediate cell motility indicates that they effect this response by branching where bent under force.

    • Anders E. Carlsson

  • Article |

    It is well known that organisms profit from adapting to their environment. A study of stochastic adaptation dynamics shows that this comes at the expense of adaptive speed and accuracy—providing a framework for understanding adaptation in noisy biological systems.

    • Ganhui Lan
    • , Pablo Sartori
    •  & Yuhai Tu

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