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IMAGE: Illinois researchers Aimy Wissa, Marianne Alleyne and Ophelia Bolmin studied the motion of a click beetle s jump and present the first analytical framework to uncover the physics behind ultrafast motion. view more
Credit: Photo by L. Brian Stauffer
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Click beetles can propel themselves more than 20 body lengths into the air, and they do so without using their legs. While the jump s motion has been studied in depth, the physical mechanisms that enable the beetles signature clicking maneuver have not. A new study examines the forces behind this super-fast energy release and provides guidelines for studying extreme motion, energy storage and energy release in other small animals like trap-jaw ants and mantis shrimps.
Theoretical physicists from Berlin teamed up with experimental physicists from Munich to determine the precise mechanics involved in cell motility. The findings were published in the journal
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IMAGE: (a) Illustration of the structure of a nanodiamond quantum sensor coated with a pyrogenic polymer, and how it operates as a hybrid nanoheater/thermometer. (b) Electron microscope image of hybrid sensors.. view more
Credit: Osaka University
Osaka, Japan - A team of scientists from Osaka University, The University of Queensland, and the National University of Singapore s Faculty of Engineering used tiny nanodiamonds coated with a heat-releasing polymer to probe the thermal properties of cells. When irradiated with light from a laser, the sensors acted both as heaters and thermometers, allowing the thermal conductivity of the interior of a cell to be calculated. This work may lead to a new set of heat-based treatments for killing bacteria or cancer cells.
A breakthrough that has implications for molecular biology, pharmacology and nanotechnologies. The fields of application are many. Identifying the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative processes in some proteins, for example, can help limit their proliferation. Understanding how a protein takes on a certain shape can open the way to use the nanomachines that nature has designed to cut, edit or block damaged or defective genes. Their study was published in the international academic journal Physical Review Letters
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VIDEO: This is a high-speed Atomic Force Microscope movie of the first steps of viral self-assembly. It shows how a hexamer at the edge of the growing lattice gradually forms from. view more
Credit: Wouter Roos, University of Groningen
The reproductive cycle of viruses requires self-assembly, maturation of virus particles and, after infection, the release of genetic material into a host cell. New physics-based technologies allow scientists to study the dynamics of this cycle and may eventually lead to new treatments. In his role as physical virologist, Wouter Roos, a physicist at the University of Groningen, together with two longtime colleagues, has written a review article on these new technologies, which was published in