Browse our latest Physics of Living Systems articles

Microtubules grow at highly variable rates, but they can be tightly coordinated merely by coupling their tips to a single shared load.

Nucleotide and force-dependent mechanisms control how the viral genome of lambda bacteriophage is inserted into capsids.

Radio frequency heating induced during magnetic resonance procedures within patients that carry embedded passive orthopedic implants may be accurately estimated through modeling and simulation.

Experimental manipulations and a mechanical model of the fiber reveal that the Reissner fiber is under heterogenous tension in vivo, and interacts with the motile cilia of diverse cells contacting the cerebrospinal fluid.

Habituation to mechanical vibration of crawling Drosophila larvae exhibits distinct time constants that characterize desensitization, re-sensitization, and further adaptation to repeated stimulus patterns.

Cell stretch release generates plasma membrane (PM) evaginations of ≈100 nm, triggering a local event of actin polymerization that flattens and recovers PM shape.

Combining micropatterning, traction force microscopy, and optogenetics, it is shown that epithelial cells actively respond to mechanical signals from neighboring cells.

To study odor-guided navigation of small animals such as worms and fly larvae, a novel flow chamber and odor sensor array are presented that better characterize the odors that the animal experiences.