Related papers: Information storing by biomagnetites
In a cell or microorganism the processes that generate mass, energy, information transfer, and cell fate specification are seamlessly integrated through a complex network of various cellular constituents and reactions. However, despite the…
The functioning of the human brain, nervous system and heart is based on the conduction of electrical signals. These electrical signals also create magnetic fields which extend outside the human body. Highly sensitive magnetometers, such as…
Active phenomena which involve force generation and motion play a key role in a number of phenomena in living cells such as cell motility, muscle contraction and the active transport of material and organelles. Here we discuss mechanical…
Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as central posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression. miRNAs regulate many key biological processes, including cell growth, death, development and differentiation. This discovery is…
The search for what differentiates inanimate matter from living things began in antiquity as a search for a "fundamental life force" embedded deep within living things - a special material unit owned only by life - later transforming to…
Motile microorganisms, like bacteria and algae, unify abilities like self-propulsion, autonomous navigation, and decision-making on the micron scale. While recent breakthroughs have led to the creation of synthetic microswimmers and…
Many of the most important processes in cells take place on and across membranes. With the rise of an impressive array of powerful quantitative methods for characterizing these membranes, it is an opportune time to reflect on the structure…
Molecular communication, as implied by its name, uses molecules as information carriers for communication between objects. It has an advantage over traditional electromagnetic-wave-based communication in that molecule-based systems could be…
Cells receive signaling molecules by receptors and relay information via sensory networks so that they can respond properly depending on the type of signal. Recent studies have shown that cells can extract multi-dimensional information from…
When magnets are fashioned into nanoscale elements, they exhibit a wide variety of phenomena replete with rich physics and the lure of tantalizing applications. In this topical review, we discuss some of these phenomena, especially those…
We present a modelling framework for the dynamics of cells structured by the concentration of a micromolecule they contain. We derive general equations for the evolution of the cell population and of the extra-cellular concentration of the…
From multicellular tissues to bacterial colonies, three dimensional cellular structures arise through the interaction of cellular activities and mechanical forces. Simple bacterial communities provide model systems for analyzing such…
Cell motility is one of the most fundamental phenomena underlying biological processes that maintain living organisms alive. Here we introduce a simple model to describe the motility of cells which include not only time-correlated internal…
Throughout the evolution of biological species on Earth, cells and organs have developed many complex structures and processes to ensure their interactions with individual chemical molecules (small and macromolecular) and nanoscale objects…
Living systems continuously sense, integrate, and act on chemical information using multiscale biochemical networks whose dynamics are inherently nonlinear, adaptive, and energy-efficient. Yet, most attempts to harness such "wetware" for…
The emergence of biomolecular homochirality requires both an initial symmetry-breaking event and a mechanism to amplify and preserve a chiral imbalance. Magnetic minerals have been shown to function as chiral agents through the…
Many biological functions are executed by molecular machines, which consume energy and convert it into mechanical work. Biological machines have evolved to transport cargo, facilitate folding of proteins and RNA, remodel chromatin and…
The term active matter describes diverse systems, spanning macroscopic (e.g. shoals of fish and flocks of birds) to microscopic scales (e.g. migrating cells, motile bacteria and gels formed through the interaction of nanoscale molecular…
Biological membranes mainly consist of lipids and proteins. While the proteins have many functions as single molecules, the membrane as a whole displays physical properties that cannot be explained on the single molecule level. For example,…
Interfacing artificial functional materials and living neuronal tissues is at the forefront of bio-nano-technology. Attempts have been so far based onto microscale processing of metals and inorganic semiconductors as electrodes or…