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biophysics

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Photo of the blue-winged leafbird of Southeast Asia.
explainers

How Animals Color Themselves With Nanoscale Structures

By Viviane Callier
June 16, 2021
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Animals sculpt the optical properties of their tissues at the nanoscale to give themselves “structural colors.” New work is piecing together how they do it.

Photo of green leafy plants in close-up.
Abstractions blog

Why Are Plants Green? To Reduce the Noise in Photosynthesis.

By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega
July 30, 2020
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Plants ignore the most energy-rich part of sunlight because stability matters more than efficiency, according to a new model of photosynthesis.

Abstractions blog

Do Brains Operate at a Tipping Point? New Clues and Complications

By Charlie Wood
June 10, 2019
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New experimental results simultaneously advance and challenge the theory that the brain’s network of neurons balances on the knife-edge between two phases.

Art for "The Math That Tells Cells What They Are"
mathematical biology

The Math That Tells Cells What They Are

By Jordana Cepelewicz
March 13, 2019
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During development, cells seem to decode their fate through optimal information processing, which could hint at a more general principle of life.

Art for "‘Lava-Lamp’ Proteins Inside Cells May Protect and Regulate"
cell biology

‘Lava-Lamp’ Proteins May Help Cells Cheat Death

By Katia Moskvitch
November 26, 2018
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With proteins that reversibly self-assemble into droplets, cells may control their metabolism — and harden themselves against harsh conditions.

EMBRYO TAIL IN TRANSITION
Abstractions blog

‘Traffic Jams’ of Cells Help to Sculpt Embryos

By Jordana Cepelewicz
September 27, 2018
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By measuring mechanical forces inside an embryo for the first time, researchers have shown how a physical “jamming” mechanism assists development.

Art for "A Math Theory for Why People Hallucinate"
neuroscience

A Math Theory for Why People Hallucinate

By Jennifer Ouellette
July 30, 2018
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Psychedelic drugs can trigger characteristic hallucinations, which have long been thought to hold clues about the brain’s circuitry. After nearly a century of study, a possible explanation is crystallizing.

Photo of Escherichia coli under a microscope
Abstractions blog

Swarming Bacteria Create an ‘Impossible’ Superfluid

By Charlie Wood
July 26, 2018
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Researchers explore a loophole that extracts useful energy from a fluid’s seemingly random motion. The secret? Sugar and asymmetry.

Illustration for "Brains May Teeter Near Their Tipping Point"
neuroscience

Brains May Teeter Near Their Tipping Point

By Jennifer Ouellette
June 14, 2018
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In a renewed attempt at a grand unified theory of brain function, physicists now argue that brains optimize performance by staying near — though not exactly at — the critical point between two phases.


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