PRX Life

A study in PRX Life shows how raster image correlation spectroscopy offers a nondestructive, fluorescence-based method for probing biomolecular condensate properties in situ that can be accessed on conventional confocal microscopes. Read the study: go.aps.org/3RDulIt

A reaction-diffusion model demonstrates that the dynamics of bimolecular condensate droplets exchanging components with their surroundings are vastly different from those of conventional liquid droplets. Read the study in PRX Life: go.aps.org/4yvVopH

A new study introduces a new confocal imaging method called confocal fast relaxation imaging and finds that protein folding stability inside stress granules in living cells defies expectations from test-tube studies. Read more: go.aps.org/4vzf2i8

Using a minimal theory, researchers show how energy-consuming enzymes determine how active membrane domains form, persist, and coarsen — a framework for identifying key factors that control phase separation on membrane scaffolds. Read the study: go.aps.org/456Yova

A new study shows that, driven by metabolic growth-lag trade-offs, the diversification of clonal yeast into two distinct phenotypes acts as an evolutionary rheostat-like mechanism that maximizes long-term fitness. Read the study: go.aps.org/4wy5LaK

A non-invasive strategy that combines optogenetics with fluctuation spectroscopy enables researchers to probe the mechanics of biomolecular condensates in living cells — and could support the diagnosis or targeting of these condensates in biomedicine. 📄 go.aps.org/4w9YMor

Sensor dependencies bias a cortical-like network towards learning representations that can separate a multitude of unknown dynamic events to the same tissue — results which offer a new perspective on the purpose of learning in the brain. Learn more: go.aps.org/4xAEG8e

Researchers have identified distinct supercoil relaxation behaviors in two different bacterial topoisomerase IA C-terminal truncation mutants and propose a modified model of the strand-passage cycle to explain their findings. Read the study: go.aps.org/4vbjjIb

On the cover of our latest issue: How does turbulence transform the scents we smell? This study links fluid dynamics with olfactory signal processing, identifying three key processes that reshape odor signals as they travel through turbulent flow. 🔗 go.aps.org/4nuZ5qL

A new analysis reveals how trained elastic materials evolve toward a marginally absorbing manifold in response to cyclic training, yielding a simple but broadly applicable framework for how adaptive systems retain memory of past conditions. Learn more: go.aps.org/4xDEtB6

Temporal fluctuations in species interaction networks can emerge intrinsically from standard population dynamics and are heavily distorted by experimental protocol selections, shows a PRX Life paper that also presents a strategy to mitigate these biases: go.aps.org/4eS3PTd

By leveraging an existing mathematical isomorphism between evolutionary dynamics and learning theory, researchers suggest potentially new explanations for how biological complexity increases or decreases in different selective environments. Read more: go.aps.org/44ekCel

A new study identifies multiple phases of Cdc42 polarization and derives mesoscale observables from live cell imaging that describe each phase — allowing for the systematic characterization of symmetry-breaking phenotypes. Read the study: go.aps.org/4wbf4gI

@SShimobayashi @CiRA_KU_E @KyotoU_News @brangwynnelab @Princeton This paper is part of our collection on the #physics of #BiomolecularCondensates. See the full collection: go.aps.org/3O4wcUB

Shunsuke Shimobayashi (@SShimobayashi) and colleagues from @CiRA_KU_E, @KyotoU_News and Clifford Brangwynne (@brangwynnelab) and collaborators at @Princeton authored the paper.

Scientists present a workflow to study the interfacial behaviors of biomolecular condensates at the phase boundary, and use it to identify unexpected features such as bending rigidity and critical capillary waves. Read more: go.aps.org/4w9YMor

This paper is part of our collection on #AdaptationAndLearning. See the full collection: go.aps.org/49BVr7Y

Udaya B. Rongala and Henrik Jörntell at Lund University conducted the research.

By considering how the brain only senses the world through its body, researchers show that the resulting dependencies between sensors enable a cortical-like network to learn representations that could distinguish a multitude of naive dynamic inputs. 🔗 go.aps.org/4xAEG8e

In a study published in PRX Life, researchers detail a two-population Kuramoto model that can fully reproduce the coexistence of scale-free avalanches and the encompassing bursts experimentally observed in human neuronal cultures. Read the study: go.aps.org/4eJ8ved