Biological physics articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Random walks on a network describe the dynamics of many natural and artificial systems. Here, Perkins et al.study the path distribution—characterizing how the walker moves—and find that it is either finite, stretched exponential or power law for any random walk on a finite network.

    • Theodore J. Perkins
    • , Eric Foxall
    •  & Roderick Edwards

  • Article |

    Gravitaxis describes the ability of microorganisms to adjust their swimming motion on the gravitational field, yet its mechanism remains unclear. Here, the authors show that an asymmetric shape of colloidal particles is alone sufficient to induce gravitactic motion in the absence of density inhomogeneity.

    • Borge ten Hagen
    • , Felix Kümmel
    •  & Clemens Bechinger

  • Article |

    Flocking emerges from communication within groups of animals. Here, Kumar et al. create a flock in inanimate matter, by showing that a vibrated layer of a small number of millimetre-sized tapered rods, amidst a background of spherical beads, spontaneously aligns into a state of coherent motion.

    • Nitin Kumar
    • , Harsh Soni
    •  & A. K. Sood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dynamic force spectroscopy is widely applied to probe molecular interactions by forcible bond breaking, but it currently lacks an analytical theory that spans the divide between experiment and simulation. Here, such a unified framework is developed and shown to be accurate for slow and fast loading.

    • Jakob T. Bullerjahn
    • , Sebastian Sturm
    •  & Klaus Kroy

  • Article |

    Growing polymer chains are often confined within vesicles in biological systems. Here, the authors study how material properties such as friction, flexibility and thickness affect confined polymer filaments when they grow beyond their equilibrium size, identifying four unique morphologies.

    • R. Vetter
    • , F. K. Wittel
    •  & H. J. Herrmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the possible role of quantum effects in biological systems requires identification of their non-classical features. Here, the authors study prototype dimers in photosynthetic antennae and find that vibration-assisted processes benefit from non-classical fluctuations of their collective motions.

    • Edward J. O’Reilly
    •  & Alexandra Olaya-Castro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Live cell imaging at high resolution is very challenging because cells die upon prolonged radiation exposure. Kimura et al.overcome this problem by using pulsed coherent X-ray diffraction to image live microbacterium in a nanofabricated liquid enclosure at resolution far exceeding optical methods.

    • Takashi Kimura
    • , Yasumasa Joti
    •  & Yoshinori Nishino

  • Article |

    Fluorescence enhancement utilizing surface plasmon excitation is widely used for biomolecular recognition. Here the authors employ a V-shaped trench, incorporating some typical functionalities of a detection system—prism, sensing plate and flow channel—into a single feature.

    • Ken-ichi Nomura
    • , Subash C.B. Gopinath
    •  & Makoto Fujimaki

  • Article |

    Neuromorphic memory devices are modelled on biological design and open up new possibilities in computing. Here, the authors report the use of a nickelate as a channel material in a three-terminal device, controllable by varying stoichiometry in situvia ionic liquid gating.

    • Jian Shi
    • , Sieu D. Ha
    •  & Shriram Ramanathan

  • Article |

    Particle focusing in microfluidic channels can be done in viscoelastic mediums such as synthetic polymer solutions. Kang et al.report that dilute DNA solutions are more efficient elasticity enhancers for this purpose and the same degree of focusing can be achieved at much lower concentrations.

    • Kyowon Kang
    • , Sung Sik Lee
    •  & Ju Min Kim

  • Article |

    Neural interactions taking place in the brain seemingly occur at criticality, but little is known about how this state is achieved. Moretti and Muñoz identify the signatures of so-called Griffiths phases stemming from the hierarchical topology of brain networks, which could point to an explanation.

    • Paolo Moretti
    •  & Miguel A. Muñoz

  • Article |

    Confinement is encountered in systems varying from simple liquids to biological cells. Williams et al. introduce an adaptive confinement with an elastic wall composed of colloidal particles, whereby the osmotic pressure of the confined system can be directly obtained from the displacement of the wall.

    • Ian Williams
    • , Erdal C. Oğuz
    •  & C. Patrick Royall

  • Article |

    Many biological processes are oscillatory and their rhythms shift in response to external stimuli. Here Kralemann et al. present a method to describe the sensitivity of an oscillator to external influences based on non-invasive observation of the system, and use it to study cardiac–respiratory interactions in humans.

    • Björn Kralemann
    • , Matthias Frühwirth
    •  & Maximilian Moser

  • Article |

    Neurofilaments are intermediate filaments that form nematic liquid-crystal hydrogels in axons. Here, the authors show that upon decreasing ionic strength the hydrogels transform to isotropic and re-entrant birefringent hydrogels, with notable mechanical and water retention properties.

    • Joanna Deek
    • , Peter J. Chung
    •  & Cyrus R. Safinya

  • Article |

    Free-electron lasers offer exciting new possibilities for X-ray studies on ultrafast timescales, but their shot-to-shot variability requires new diagnostic tools. Using a plasma switch cross-correlator, Riedel et al. present a single-shot online diagnostic to retrieve the duration of extreme ultraviolet pulses.

    • R. Riedel
    • , A. Al-Shemmary
    •  & F. Tavella

  • Article |

    Detecting the magnetic spins of a small number of atoms is important for applications such as magnetic resonance imaging. Here, Steinert et al.demonstrate that nitrogen-vacancy defect centres in diamond allow spin detection at room temperature at length scales smaller than human cells.

    • S. Steinert
    • , F. Ziem
    •  & J. Wrachtrup

Browse broader subjects

Browse Biological physics across other nature.com journals