Related papers: Simple lipids form stable higher-order structures …
Cells offer numerous inspiring examples where proteins and membranes combine to form complex structures that are key to intracellular compartmentalization, cargo transport, and specialization of cell morphology. Despite this wealth of…
Vesicles are important surrogate structures made up of multiple phospholipids and cholesterol distributed in the form of a lipid bilayer. Tubular vesicles can undergo pearling i.e., formation of beads on the liquid thread akin to the…
Everyday experience shows that cellular sheets are stiffened by the presence of a pressurized gas: from bicycle inner tubes to bubble wrap, the presence of an internal pressure increases the stiffness of otherwise floppy structures. The…
Dynamical models of Solar System evolution have suggested that P-/D-type volatile-rich asteroids formed in the outer Solar System and may be genetically related to the Jupiter Trojans, the comets and small KBOs. Indeed, their spectral…
Uranus provides a unique laboratory to test our understanding of planetary atmospheres under extreme conditions. Multi-spectral observations from Voyager, ground-based observatories, and space telescopes have revealed a delicately banded…
TRAPPIST-1 planets are invaluable for the study of comparative planetary science outside our Solar System and possibly habitability. First, we derive from N-body simulations possible planetary evolution scenarios, and show that each of the…
The sulfur chemistry in protoplanetary disks influences the properties of nascent planets, including potential habitability. Although the inventory of sulfur molecules in disks has gradually increased over the last decade, CS is still the…
Here, we evaluate our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus, as an exemplar of the runaway greenhouse state that bounds the inner edge of the habitable zone. Despite its current hellish surface environment, Venus may once have been habitable…
Dynamical studies of new exoplanet systems are a critical component of the discovery and characterisation process. Such studies can provide firmer constraints on the parameters of the newly discovered planets, and may even reveal that the…
Present-day Venus is an inhospitable place with surface temperatures approaching 750K and an atmosphere over 90 times as thick as present day Earth's. Billions of years ago the picture may have been very different. We have created a suite…
The stabilization of macromolecules is fundamental to developing biological formulations, such as vaccines and protein therapeutics. In this study, we employ coarse grained polymer models to investigate the impact of four sugars:…
"Necks" are features of lipid membranes characterized by an uniquley large curvature, functioning as bridges between different compartments. These features are ubiquitous in the life-cycle of the cell and instrumental in processes such as…
Sulfur chemistry plays a central role in controlling the atmospheric structure, cloud formation, and composition of Venus and Venus-like exoplanets. However, key reactions involving ground- and excited-state sulfur species remain poorly…
Venus exhibits strong and changing contrasts at ultraviolet wavelengths apparently related to the clouds and the dynamics in the cloud layer, but to date their origin continues to be unknown. We investigate the nature of the UV contrasts…
In the study of crystal nucleation via computer simulations, hard spheres are arguably the most extensively explored model system. Nonetheless, even in this simple model system, the complex thermodynamics of crystal nuclei can sometimes…
Titan is the only moon with a substantial atmosphere, the only other thick N$_{2}$ atmosphere besides Earth's, the site of extraordinarily complex atmospheric chemistry that far surpasses any other solar system atmosphere, and the only…
Forming an interface between immiscible fluids incurs a free-energy cost that usually favors minimizing the interfacial area. An emulsion droplet of fixed volume therefore tends to form a sphere, and pairs of droplets tend to coalesce.…
The equilibrium distance between two lipid bilayers stable in bulk water and in proximity of a substrate was investigated. Samples consisted of a homogeneous lipid bilayer, floating near an identical bilayer deposited on the hydrophilic…
The supercritical state is currently viewed as uniform and homogeneous on the pressure-temperature phase diagram in terms of physical properties. Here, we study structural properties of the supercritical carbon dioxide, and discover the…
Consistency between theory predictions and measurements and calculations revealed that the skin of ice, containing water molecules with fewer than four neighbours, forms a supersolid phase that is highly polarized, elastic, hydrophobic,…