Physics of Living Systems

Physics of Living Systems

eLife reviews research in which approaches from the physical sciences are used to provide insights into the properties of biological systems and processes. Learn more about what we review and sign up for the latest research.
Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Latest articles

    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Vein fate determined by flow-based but time-delayed integration of network architecture

    Sophie Marbach, Noah Ziethen ... Karen Alim
    Relative hydraulic resistance, shear rate, and pressure in a vascular network integrate the network's architecture via fluid flow, and determine vein dynamics, with a time delay, in the prototypical organism Physarum polycephalum.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Vasculature: Exploring the dynamics of vascular adaptation

    Thomas S Shimizu, E Toby Kiers, Howard A Stone
    A combination of in toto imaging and theory suggests a new mechanism for the remodeling of veins in vascular networks.
    Insight
    Formats available:
    • HTML
    • PDF
    1. Medicine
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Comparable in vivo joint kinematics between self-reported stable and unstable knees after TKA can be explained by muscular adaptation strategies: A retrospective observational study

    Longfeng Rao, Nils Horn ... Pascal Schütz
    Muscle synergies are able to identify muscular adaptation that results from feelings of joint instability, whereas tibiofemoral kinematics are sensitive for detecting acute instability events during functional activities.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Substrate evaporation drives collective construction in termites

    G. Facchini, A. Rathery ... A. Perna
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Generating active T1 transitions through mechanochemical feedback

    Rastko Sknepnek, Ilyas Djafer-Cherif ... Silke Henkes
    Directed mechanical stresses can trigger active T1 events that lead to tissue elongation perpendicular to the main direction of tissue stress.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Defining basic rules for hardening influenza A virus liquid condensates

    Temitope Akhigbe Etibor, Silvia Vale-Costa ... Maria-João Amorim
    Thermodynamic, kinetic, and dynamic analyses as well as solubility proteome profiling reveal that influenza A virus liquid inclusions may be selectively hardened with promising antiviral activity.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Physical basis of the cell size scaling laws

    Romain Rollin, Jean-François Joanny, Pierre Sens
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Viral Condensates: Making it hard to replicate

    Billy Wai-Lung Ng, Stephan Scheeff, Josefina Xeque Amada
    Understanding how to harden liquid condensates produced by influenza A virus could accelerate the development of novel antiviral drugs.
    Insight
    Formats available:
    • HTML
    • PDF
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Dynamics of immune memory and learning in bacterial communities

    Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, Sidhartha Goyal
    Bacterial CRISPR immunity tracks phage mutations, creating immune diversity in bacterial populations that parallels phage genetic diversity and patterns of phage evolution that are determined by the type and degree of immune cross-reactivity in the CRISPR system.

Highlights

    1. Physics of Living Systems

    How networks of veins change

    Thomas S Shimizu, E Toby Kiers, Howard A Stone
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Cancer: Cells under pressure

    Dhiraj Indana, Ovijit Chaudhuri

Senior editors

  1. Aleksandra Walczak
    Ecole Normale Superieure, France
  2. See more editors