Browse our latest Physics of Living Systems articles

Single-cell data analysis must be guided by an underlying model.

Time-varying heterogeneous social activity explains transient suppression of epidemic waves followed by long plateaus and eventual transition towards the endemic state of an emergent pathogen, such as COVID-19.

Silkmoth utilizes multimodal information to modulate behavior according to the degree of turbulence in the environment, enabling it to efficiently an odor source search.

Two competing descriptions of membrane-less sub-compartments, liquid droplets and polymer binding aggregates, can be cast into a common theoretical framework and tested through single-particle tracking experiments.

A novel bacterial single-cell growth mode is identified in C. glutamicum, which sheds light on its elongation dynamics and cell size regulation.

During ingestion of antibody-coated targets, phagocytes probe and deform the target via Arp2/3-dependent protrusions and myosin-dependent constriction during cup closure.

Dynamical properties of liquid condensates can be quantitatively assessed by combining phase separation theory and photobleaching, which opens new avenues to understand their physicochemical properties and functioning.

An investigation of spatiotemporal metabolic differentiation during colony biofilm growth of E. coli revealed that alanine is cross-fed between spatially segregated subpopulations within the colony, to support cellular growth in an otherwise nutrient-deprived region of the colony.

Net-winged midge larvae use suction organs covered in spine-like cuticular protrusions to generate powerful attachment on wet and rough surfaces.

Bacterial population can coordinate individuals of different phenotypes by spatial modulation of their run-and-tumble behaviors, resulting in collective group migration with an ordered structure of phenotypes.