biophysics

Pack enough string-like objects together, and they will begin to align with one another. But replace the strings with worms or bacteria living in your gut, and this self-organization becomes much more difficult. A team of University of Amsterdam (UvA) researchers has demonstrated that activity can fundamentally alter one of the most important phase transitions […]

In a landmark achievement in biological imaging, researchers at Biohub and the University of California, Berkeley today announced the successful demonstration of the laser phase plate, a novel device that dramatically improves the contrast of images produced by cryo-electron microscopes, opening up an entirely new view of human biology.

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Hi everyone, I’ve been trying to understand bioelectricity, especially how neurons transmit signals, and I’m not sure whether it’s better approached from a physics or biology perspective. From a physics point of view, I’ve seen it compared to basic electrical systems, while biologically it... Read more

Nature Communications, Published online: 06 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74087-9 Kir4.1/5.1 channels are vital for brain and kidney function. Here the authors combine structural, electrophysiological, and computational studies to reveal an inner-ring pore blockage mechanism by polyamines and inhibitors, providing the structural basis for inward rectification.

BETHESDA, MD - The Biophysical Society condemns the Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Federal Financial Assistance, released Friday, May 29th. The NPRM is a sweeping overhaul of federal rulemaking and oversight, removing individual oversight from federal agencies to promulgate rules and oversee how regulations are implemented and enforced internally.

Human Technopole welcomes Wolfram Pönisch as a new Research Group Leader in the Computational Biology Research Centre - Biophysical Modelling and Simulations Programme. A theoretical physicist by training, Wolfram studies the stochastic morphodynamics of living systems: how cells and tissues change shape, fluctuate and use these dynamics to influence biological processes. The post Introducing Wol…

The orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) theory, developed by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, proposes that moments of conscious experience arise from gravity-induced objective reductions (OR) of quantum superpositions orchestrated within neuronal microtubules. This framework has generated substantial empirical interest through its links to microtubule biology, anesthesia sensitivity, an…

Sperm cells move through fluids that should stop them almost instantly, yet new research suggests they succeed by exploiting unusual properties of active living matter. A sperm cell should not be a strong swimmer. At microscopic scales, fluid does not behave like water in a pool. It acts more like a thick barrier, stopping motion [...]

Nature Communications, Published online: 28 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73415-3 Here, the authors tracked ultrafast proton migration and hydrogen back-transfer in photoionized water dimers. These dynamics trigger fast autoionization that emits low-energy electrons, key agents in DNA damage, outpacing intermolecular Coulombic decay.

Living cells cool much slower than our current understanding of heat conduction can explain, according to new research from the University of Tokyo. Researchers used two techniques - high-speed temperature mapping and artificial heating - to observe how heat dissipated from living cells and similar-sized artificial, fluid-filled sacs (liposomes).

Cohere announced the acquisition of Reliant AI, a biopharma AI company with operations in Montreal and Berlin. This acquisition brings Reliant AI’s world-class research team, proprietary biomedical datasets, and domain-optimized technology into Cohere’s enterprise-grade sovereign AI platform. This s...

In Japanese anime and some Marvel stories, individuals often “transform” and rapidly gain muscle in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. This is basically impossible under current, known science but ...

In Biointerphases, a Hiroshima University researcher closely examines the light-emitting organ in a bioluminescent deep-sea fish to reveal layers of guanine platelets that do more than just reflect the light -- they scatter the light in complex ways. The platelets are needle-shaped and clustered locally around the light organs, and when light hits the guanine crystals, their shape causes light sc…

Nature Cell Biology, Published online: 26 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41556-026-01963-3 Mizrak et al. use single-molecule tracking to dissect mechanisms of protein targeting to lipid droplets. They show that nanodomain-based confinement drives selective protein accumulation on lipid droplets.

Nature Cell Biology, Published online: 26 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41556-026-01955-3 Lipid droplets acquire hairpin-containing proteins from the ER, but how they travel to lipid droplets and subsequently accumulate has remained unclear. With single-molecule tracking, a study now shows that persistent connections serve as bridges to lipid droplets, where nanoscale domains corral arriving proteins.

Nature Communications, Published online: 25 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73722-9 The physiological relevance and reproducibility of microphysiological systems is currently limited by perfusion systems. Here the authors engineer Hemadyne, an accordion music-inspired pump that mimics human blood flow, and apply it to study how aging-related flow waveforms impact vascular health.

Formally: Completing a PhD on the biophysical chemistry of nucleotides via molecular dynamics. Informally: A big fan of types, categories, and abstraction. Bad at algebra, but unwilling to quit trying. Having a grand time studying novel foundations of modern physics.