The use of methods from physical science to study biological systems
23
votes
2answers
297 views
What are the trajectories of flying insects?
Many flying insects tend to have very jagged trajectories. For moves of a fruit fly looks like a random walk.
Is there any research on the properties of trajectories (e.g. their fractal dimension or ...
17
votes
1answer
314 views
How, on a physical level, does ATP confer energy?
When ATP is used as the energy currency to make, say, reaction X + Y → Z happen, is what happens on a physical level down at the molecular scale that during the reaction
ATP + H2O → ADP + Pi ...
12
votes
2answers
407 views
Is the EC50 of an activating protein for an enzyme a good indicator for the binding affinity Kd?
We work with a membrane protein system where measuring the affinity between the enzyme and the upstream activating protein has been difficult, and when measured in detergent solution, it is almost 100 ...
12
votes
1answer
219 views
Quantum mechanics in biology
There is a growing interest in the applications of non-equilibrium quantum dynamics to describe biological processes (I'm not talking here about Penrose's old theories, but new stuff -- quantum ...
9
votes
1answer
94 views
Is there a biophysical causation from local field potential (LFP) to spikes?
Many experiments showed that neurons tend to fire at some phase (usually trough) of local field potential (LFP) oscillations, such as theta or gamma rhythm. LFP is supposedly generated by a population ...
7
votes
2answers
155 views
Is “exhaustion” of the Hodgkin-Huxley membrane at constant stimulation a real phenomenon?
I was playing around with a simulation of the Hodgkin-Huxley model using their original parameters for the squid giant axon.
By applying a constant stimulation current to the model in resting state, ...
7
votes
2answers
158 views
Can a living organism run on electricity?
Each time I'm too lazy too cook I think it'd be cool to be able to just plug myselt into an outlet. Yet I know it is not possible - I need amino acids and a lot of other stuff that electricity can't ...
7
votes
1answer
89 views
PDB Mining: Why Do I Find Atoms Less than 1 Angstrom Apart?
I am attempting to find potential Hydrogen bonds between Hydrogen donors and aromatic ring acceptors. I do this by predicting the location of Hydrogens on residues and then calculating how far these ...
6
votes
1answer
91 views
Why human cannot stand still in one place?
When a human stands in one place, he cannot stand still but we can see the body slightly swings.
Is this due to the Earth rotation or it has something with biology and muscles relaxations?
I have ...
5
votes
4answers
82 views
Does darker skin color make it easier to live under sun?
I have always thought darker colors absorb more heat from the sun, so if you are wearing a white T-shirt you will be cooler under sun than wearing a darker T-shirt, or a black piece of steel will be ...
5
votes
3answers
381 views
How do warm-blooded animals keep their temperatures constant?
Warm blooded animals like us keep their temperature constant irrespective of their surroundings. But how do they do that? Energy should be supplied from the inside. I assume that reactions like making ...
4
votes
2answers
95 views
Question about equilibrium potential formula
My biology book says, that the equilibrium potential for an ion with a charge of +1 is: $$E_{ion}= 62mV \biggl(\log\frac{[ion]_{outside}}{[ion]_{inside}}\biggr)$$
Where does the 62 mV come from? How ...
4
votes
2answers
251 views
Bone conduction . Different from the normal hearing phenomena in humans?
Bone conduction, is it something different from the normal phenomena of listening through the ears. I checked on some literature . Is it so that Bone conduction has very less to do with the ears and ...
4
votes
1answer
67 views
How to quantitatively measure work done by a biological system?
Thermodynamic efficiency can be expressed as the ratio of Work done(W) to Energy invested (Q).
Thermodynamic efficiency= W/Q
How can one measure work done by a ...
3
votes
3answers
125 views
What is a good list of unsolved protein structures?
I'm trying to get a list of unique soluble structured proteins that don't have a solved structure. That is, they aren't the usual membrane proteins or some derivative of another protein.
Things that ...
2
votes
2answers
883 views
How do trees use Adhesion and Cohesion to move water against gravity?
I have an AP Bio class where I have to name 3 properties of water and I chose adhesion and cohesion for one of them. I'm having trouble finding out how exactly trees use adhesion and cohesion to move ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
Structure of RAP Antibodies (Specifically RAP-5)
[EDIT] - Have just found not one but two papers that address my structure problem. However they concern RAP-1A, so I guess my question is now what is the difference in structure and function of ...
2
votes
0answers
35 views
Why is saltatory conduction faster than continuous conduction?
How does spacing apart sodium and potassium channels allow the action potential to travel faster down the axon? This is the reason always cited for saltatory conduction and myelination, but my mental ...
1
vote
3answers
122 views
Action Potential Distribution On Synapses
This is a biology+physics question. Since there is no biology section, I am asking here.
In brain, when a neuron reaches to threshold value, it fires an action potential. In most graphics, that is ...
1
vote
1answer
82 views
What is the energy balance of cooking?
If I cook some food, I get apparently several energetic advantages:
thermal : the temperature of the food is closer or superior to the temperature of my body or internal organs, so I do not have to ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views
Are Bovine serum albumin, Avidin, Ficoll-70 and Dextran-70 positively charged or negatively charged?
Bovine serum albumin, Avidin, Ficoll-70 and Dextran-70,are they
positively charged or negatively charged ? And which other solvents can be used as a substitute to water for preparing solutions in each ...
1
vote
1answer
106 views
Does coloring affect the perception of depth?
I have a question about the mechanics of human vision which may be as much of a physics question as it is a biology/physiology question. I noticed that if I try to imagine a clear blue daytime sky ...
1
vote
1answer
84 views
How to manufacture different sized micelles in nano -scale?
I am trying to answer q5:
"How can you manufacture micelles in A) nanometerer -scale B) and in ten nanometer -scale?"
My Thinking
Observations and some thinking
Oil in ...
1
vote
0answers
109 views
How do optical illusions work? [closed]
Hello fellow investigators
I have two questions about optical illusions
1) A photo mosaic is something like this http://i.stack.imgur.com/Pzplp.png
What are the optical principles behind our eye ...
