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mathematical biology

Close-up video of bubbles in a lava lamp moving and splitting under the influence of heat.
origins of life

At the Dawn of Life, Heat May Have Driven Cell Division

By Carrie Arnold
November 23, 2021
Read Later

A mathematical model shows how a thermodynamic mechanism could have made protocells split in two.

patterns

Turing Patterns Turn Up in a Tiny Crystal

By Elena Renken
August 10, 2021
Read Later

The mechanism behind leopard spots and zebra stripes also appears to explain the patterned growth of a bismuth crystal, extending Alan Turing’s 1952 idea to the atomic scale.

2020 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 23, 2020
Read Later

While the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was the most urgent priority, biologists also learned more about how brains process information, how to define individuality and why sleep deprivation kills.

ecology

A Physicist’s Approach to Biology Brings Ecological Insights

By Gabriel Popkin
October 13, 2020
Read Later

The physicist Jeff Gore tests theories about microbe communities experimentally and finds new rules governing ecological stability.

Photograph of a bat in flight.
Abstractions blog

Can Vaccines for Wildlife Prevent Human Pandemics?

By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega
August 24, 2020
Read Later

Studies suggest that self-disseminating vaccines could prevent the “spillover” of animal viruses into humans as pandemic diseases.

Photo of emperor penguins huddling together for warmth, with two sticking their heads out
Abstractions blog

Math of the Penguins

By Susan D'Agostino
August 17, 2020
Read Later

Emperor penguins display rigorously geometric spacing and mathematical efficiency when they huddle together for warmth, which may reveal secrets to their overall health.

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
Read Later

Plants ignore the most energy-rich part of sunlight because stability matters more than efficiency, according to a new model of photosynthesis.

Illustration of a flying albatross, a swimming basking shark and the Lévy walk paths they take.
behavior

Random Search Wired Into Animals May Help Them Hunt

By Liam Drew
June 11, 2020
Read Later

The nervous systems of foraging and predatory animals may prompt them to move along a special kind of random path called a Lévy walk to find food efficiently when no clues are available.

A rock, a piece of paper and a pair of scissors, each formed from a mass of microbes, are arranged in a cycle.
ecology

Biodiversity May Thrive Through Games of Rock-Paper-Scissors

By Carrie Arnold
March 5, 2020
Read Later

Recent findings add weight to the evidence that the intransitive competitions between species enrich the diversity of nature.


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