Physics and biology
Many key advances in the biological sciences have been made possible by physics-based techniques. The future of biomedicine depends on collaboration between the two fields
The brain is ‘classical’
Nearly all the quantum models of the brain depend on how long the brain can keep quantum coherence. Penrose argues for example, that microtubles – small hollow cylinders that help cells keep the...
Nanotubes muscle in on ‘smart materials’
The new technique works because the salt water conducts electricity. As the voltage on the tape changes, electrical charge carriers are injected into the nanotubes. These form electrolyte ions near th...
Radiation causes hidden DNA damage
Li-Jun Wu from Columbia University and colleagues from Colorado State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences used the radiological research accelerator at Columbia to pass precise quantities o...
Physics solves blood vessel mystery
Experiments on the effect have been performed by introducing a compound called angiotensin II into the blood stream of a rat. This compound narrows the diameter of the blood vessels, which increases t...
Tiling theory could make DNA chips a reality
Previous attempts to use DNA as a molecular building block failed because its double helix structure is so flexible. However, Seeman and colleagues realized that if two synthetic DNA chains were place...
New clues to the left-handed origins of life
Fred Hoyle was the first to suggest that organic molecules developed in outer space and then fell to the earth, but it was not until the discovery of large quantities of left-handed amino acids in a m...
Physicists see the light in Nature
The brilliant colours in a butterfly’s wings, for example, are not produced by pigments alone. Instead a diffraction grating – a series of microscopic grooves on the surface of the wing &#...
Seeing light over contaminated soil
The device works by utilizing a small hydraulic ram attached on the back of a truck. When the vehicle is parked in the sample area, the ram fires a metal rod 30 m into the soil. At the top of the rod,...
Ground breaking physics in the garden
In Ammann’s scheme the plants are grown in a vertical structure with their roots protruding into a central column. A nozzle at the top of the structure sprays nutrients into this column, wetting...
