Related papers: Solvent constraints for biopolymer folding and evo…
We study the dynamics of a polymer when it is quenched from a $\theta$ solvent into a good or bad solvent by means of a Langevin equation. The variation of the radius of gyration is studied as a function of time. For the first stage of…
Numerical results on the translocation of long biopolymers through mid-sized and wide pores are presented. The simulations are based on a novel methodology which couples molecular motion to a mesoscopic fluid solvent. Thousands of events of…
Inside every living cell is the cytoplasm: a fluid mixture of thousands of different macromolecules, predominantly proteins. This mixture is where most of the biochemistry occurs that enables living cells to function, and it is perhaps the…
Intergalactic filaments form the foundation of the cosmic web that connect galaxies together, and provide an important reservoir of gas for galaxy growth and accretion. Here we present very high resolution two-dimensional simulations of the…
Recent detections of potentially habitable exoplanets around sunlike stars demand increased exploration of the physical conditions that can sustain life, by whatever methods available. Insight into these conditions can be gained by…
The ancestor philosophers' dream of thousands of new worlds is finally realised: about 3500 extrasolar planets have been discovered in the neighborhood of our Sun. Most of them are very different from those we used to know in our Solar…
Comets contain abundant amounts of organic and inorganic species. Many of the volatile molecules in comets have also been observed in the interstellar medium and some of them even with similar relative abundances, indicating formation under…
Liquid water oceans are at the center of our search for life on exoplanets because water is a strict requirement for life as we know it. However, oceans are dynamic habitats---and some oceans may be better hosts for life than others. In…
Folding of Ubiquitin (Ub) is investigated at low and neutral pH at different temperatures using simulations of the coarse-grained Self-Organized-Polymer model with side chains. The calculated radius of gyration, showing dramatic variations…
In recent years molecular elasticity has emerged as an active area of research: there are experiments that probe mechanical properties of single biomolecules such as DNA and Actin, with a view to understanding the role of elasticity of…
An infinite hierarchy of layering transitions exists for model polymers in solution under poor solvent or low temperatures and near an attractive surface. A flat histogram stochastic growth algorithm known as FlatPERM has been used on a…
We investigate the prospects for the past or current existence of habitable conditions deep underneath the surfaces of the Moon and Mars as well as generic bound and free-floating extrasolar rocky objects. We construct a simple model that…
The search for life beyond the solar system is a central goal in exoplanetary science. Exoplanet surveys are increasingly detecting potentially habitable exoplanets and large telescopes in space and on ground are aiming to detect possible…
Theoretical predictions and observational data indicate a class of sub-Neptune exoplanets may have water-rich interiors covered by hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. Provided suitable climate conditions, such planets could host surface liquid…
Many biological fluids are composed of suspended polymers immersed in a viscous fluid. A prime example is mucus, where the polymers are also known to form a network. While the presence of this microstructure is linked with an overall…
Liquid mixtures composed of colloidal particles and much smaller non-adsorbing linear homopolymers can undergo a gelation transition due to polymer-mediated depletion forces. We now show that the addition of linear polymers to suspensions…
Chitosan is a highly versatile and sustainable polymer with a broad range of potential biological and materials engineering applications. Despite its versatility, the native brittleness of chitosan limits its broader utilization. This…
Solutions of semiflexible polymers confined by repulsive planar walls are studied by density functional theory and Molecular Dynamics simulations, to clarify the competition between the chain alignment favored by the wall and the depletion…
With the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets and a potentially huge number of Earth-like planets waiting to be discovered, the conditions for their habitability have become a focal point in exoplanetary research. The classical picture of…
Colloidal nanoparticles, used for applications from catalysis and energy applications to cosmetics, are typically embedded in matrixes or dispersed in solutions. The entire particle surface, which is where reactions are expected to occur,…