Related papers: Solvent constraints for biopolymer folding and evo…
Whereas it is experimentally known that the inclusion of nanoparticles in hydrogels can lead to a mechanical reinforcement, a detailed molecular understanding of the adhesion mechanism is still lacking. Here we use coarse-grained molecular…
We employ a multiscale approach to model the translocation of biopolymers through nanometer size pores. Our computational scheme combines microscopic Langevin molecular dynamics (MD) with a mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann (LB) method for the…
We examine the dynamical implications of an interaction between some of the fluid components of the universe. We consider the combination of three matter components, one of which is a perfect fluid and the other two are interacting. The…
Habitability is a measure of an environment's potential to support life, and a habitable exoplanet supports liquid water on its surface. However, a planet's success in maintaining liquid water on its surface is the end result of a complex…
From biological tissues to layers of paint, macroscopic non-porous materials with the capacity to swell when brought in contact with an appropriate solvent are ubiquitous. Here, we study experimentally and theoretically one of the…
The dynamical behavior of two types of non-equilibrium systems is discussed: $(a)$ two-dimensional cellular structures, and $(b)$ living polymers. Simple models governing their evolution are introduced and steady state distributions (cell…
The solvent quality determines the collapsed or the expanded state of a polymer. For example, a polymer dissolved in a poor solvent collapses, whereas in a good solvent it opens up. While this standard understanding is generally valid,…
Reduction of information entropy along with ever-increasing complexity are among the key signatures of living matter. Understanding the onset of such behavior in early prebiotic world is essential for solving the problem of origins of life.…
Rocky planet atmospheres form and evolve through interactions between the planet's surface and interior. If a growing rocky planet acquires enough mass prior to the dissipation of the nebular gas disk, it can gravitationally capture a…
The collapse and swelling behavior of a generic homopolymer is studied using implicit-solvent, explicit-cosolvent Langevin dynamics computer simulations for varying interaction strengths. The systematic investigation reveals that polymer…
The biomolecules in and around a living cell -- proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates -- continuously sample myriad conformational states that are thermally accessible at physiological temperatures. Simultaneously, a given…
Chemically-responsive polymers are macromolecules that respond to local variations of the chemical composition of the solution by changing their conformation, with notable examples including polyelectrolytes, proteins and DNA. The polymer…
We study the formation and evolution of several molecules in a collapsing interstellar cloud using a reasonably large reaction network containing more then four hundred atomic and molecular species. We employ a time dependent, spherically…
The structure and function of polymers in confined environments, e.g., biopolymers in the cytoplasm of a cell, are strongly affected by macromolecular crowding. To explore the influence of solvent quality on conformations of crowded…
We report on extensive molecular dynamics atomistic simulations of a \textit{meta}-substituted \textit{poly}-phenylacetylene (pPA) foldamer dispersed in three solvents, water \ce{H2O}, cyclohexane \ce{cC6H12}, and \textit{n}-hexane…
Recent emerging interest in experiments of single-polymer dynamics urge computational physicists to revive their understandings, particularly in the nonequilibrium context. Here we briefly discuss the currently evolving approaches of…
The relative abundances of exotic environments provides us with (uninformed) bounds on the habitability of those environments relative to our own, on the basis that our presence here is not too atypical. For instance, since red stars…
Cononsolvency occurs when two miscible, competing good solvents for a polymer are mixed, resulting in a loss of solubility. In this study, we demonstrate through simulations, supported by theory, that cononsolvency can be driven solely by…
The interaction of flexible polymers with fluid flows leads to a number of intriguing phenomena observed in laboratory experiments, namely drag reduction, elastic turbulence and heat transport modification in natural convection, and is one…
We re-examine the likelihood for alien civilizations to develop communication technology on the basis of the general assumption that life elsewhere could have a non-carbon chemical foundation. We particularized the discussion to a complex…