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Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the deformation behavior of disperse polymer melts by tracking test chains of length N = Mw, the weight average molecular weight, in melts of varying dispersity. At high strain…
A molecular dynamics study of a two dimensional system of particles interacting through a Lennard-Jones pairwise potential is performed at fixed temperature and vanishing external pressure. As the temperature is increased, a solid-to-liquid…
Anesthetic agents are neurotropic drugs capable of inducing significant alterations in the thalamocortical system, promoting a profound decrease in awareness and level of consciousness. There is experimental evidence that general anesthesia…
Liquid crystal elastomers realize a fascinating new form of soft matter that is a composite of a conventional crosslinked polymer gel (rubber) and a liquid crystal. These {\em solid} liquid crystal amalgams, quite similarly to their…
Traditional theories of the NMR autocorrelation function for intramolecular dipole pairs assume single-exponential decay, yet the calculated autocorrelation of realistic systems display a rich, multi-exponential behavior resulting in…
The well-known Wall theorem states a simple and precise relation among temperature, pressure and density of a fluid at contact with a confining hard wall in thermodynamic equilibrium. In this Letter we develop an extension of the Wall…
Biological adhesion is a critical mechanical function of complex organisms operating at multiple scales. At the cellular scale, cell-cell adhesion is remarkably tunable to enable both cohesion and malleability during development,…
The interpretation electrical phenomena in biomembranes is usually based on the assumption that the experimentally found discrete ion conduction events are due to a particular class of proteins called ion channels while the lipid membrane…
Energy transfer (relaxation) phenomena are ubiquitous in nature. At a macroscopic level, the phenomenological theory of heat (Fourier law) successfully describes heat transfer and energy flow. However, its microscopic origin is still under…
Water molecules play an important role in providing unique environments for biological reactions on cell membranes. It is widely believed that water molecules form bridges that connect lipid molecules and stabilize cell membranes. Using…
Contrary to existing theoretical models, experimental evidence points out that electroporation (membrane defect formation under external electric fields) starts to occur within the range of transmembrane voltages that cells may routinely…
Biomembranes wrapping cells and organelles are not only the partitions that separate the insides but also dynamic fields for biological functions accompanied by membrane shape changes. In this review, we discuss the spatiotemporal patterns…
Signatures of superfluid-like behaviour have recently been observed experimentally in a nonlinear optical mesh lattice, where the arrival time of optical pulses propagating in a pair of coupled optical fiber loops is interpreted as a…
In recent years polymer translocation, i.e., transport of polymeric molecules through nanometer-sized pores and channels embedded in membranes, has witnessed strong advances. It is now possible to observe single-molecule polymer dynamics…
A possible mechanism for the synchronization of action potential propagation along a bundle of neurons (ephaptic coupling) is considered. It is shown that this mechanism is similar to the salutatory conduction of the action potential…
Chronic pain affects about 100 million adults in the US. Despite their great need, neuropharmacology and neurostimulation therapies for chronic pain have been associated with suboptimal efficacy and limited long-term success, as their…
Cell layers eliminate unwanted cells through the extrusion process, which underlines healthy versus flawed tissue behaviors. Although several biochemical pathways have been identified, the underlying mechanical basis including the forces…
The generation of action potential brings into play specific mechanosensory stimuli manifest in the variation of membrane capacitance, resulting from the selective membrane permeability to ions exchanges and testifying to the central role…
Developing tissues often maintain mechanical coherence while continuously remodeling through cellular processes such as cell divisions and rearrangements. In this way, they are an example of amorphous solids. In passive amorphous solids,…
We predict spontaneous nematic order in an ensemble of active force generators with elastic interactions as a minimal model for early nematic alignment of short stress fibers in non-motile, adhered cells. Mean-field theory is formally…