biophysics – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:18:08 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140436 The post The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The bottom of the ocean is cold, dark and under extreme pressure. It is not a place suited to the physiology of us surface dwellers: At the deepest point, the pressure of 36,200 feet of seawater is greater than the weight of an elephant on every square inch of your body. Yet Earth’s deepest places are home to life uniquely suited to these challenging conditions. Scientists have studied how the...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/feed/ 0 With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now https://www.quantamagazine.org/with-digital-twins-the-doctor-will-see-you-now-20240726/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/with-digital-twins-the-doctor-will-see-you-now-20240726/#respond Fri, 26 Jul 2024 14:02:12 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139343 The post With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Amanda Randles wants to copy your body. If the computer scientist had her way, she’d have enough data — and processing power — to effectively clone you on her computer, run the clock forward, and see what your coronary arteries or red blood cells might do in a week. Fully personalized medical simulations, or “digital twins,” are still beyond our abilities, but Randles has pioneered computer models...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/with-digital-twins-the-doctor-will-see-you-now-20240726/feed/ 0 Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue https://www.quantamagazine.org/biophysicists-uncover-powerful-symmetries-in-living-tissue-20231025/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/biophysicists-uncover-powerful-symmetries-in-living-tissue-20231025/#respond Wed, 25 Oct 2023 14:53:27 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=131630 The post Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Luca Giomi still remembers the time when, as a young graduate student, he watched two videos of droplets streaming from an inkjet printer. The videos were practically identical — except one wasn’t a video at all. It was a simulation. “I was absolutely mind-blown,” said Giomi, a biophysicist at Leiden University. “You could predict everything about the ink droplets.” The simulation was powered by...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/biophysicists-uncover-powerful-symmetries-in-living-tissue-20231025/feed/ 0 Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart? https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-math-and-physics-save-an-arrhythmic-heart-20230712/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-math-and-physics-save-an-arrhythmic-heart-20230712/#respond Wed, 12 Jul 2023 18:32:07 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=127830 The post Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The heart’s electrical system keeps all its muscle cells beating in sync. A hard whack to the chest at the wrong moment, however, can set up unruly waves of abnormal electrical excitation that are potentially deadly. The resulting kind of arrhythmia may be what caused the football player Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills to collapse on the field after he took a powerful hit during a 2023 National...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-math-and-physics-save-an-arrhythmic-heart-20230712/feed/ 0 Starfish Whisperer Develops a Physical Language of Life https://www.quantamagazine.org/starfish-whisperer-develops-a-physical-language-of-life-20230111/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/starfish-whisperer-develops-a-physical-language-of-life-20230111/#respond Wed, 11 Jan 2023 15:21:41 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=122062 The post Starfish Whisperer Develops a Physical Language of Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In a sunny lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, two starfish fought over their prey. Overlapping arms pinned a hunk of thawing cocktail shrimp against the side of the tank. Thousands of suction cups rippled furiously against the glass as each echinoderm struggled to inch the prize toward its own maw. The physicist Nikta Fakhri looked on with a grin. Not many physicists keep ocean life...

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