Modelers are using recent gains in computational power to consider the complex interactions of hundreds or thousands of macromolecules at once--a necessary first step toward whole cell simulation
Molecules in cells behave like people in crowded subway cars. Because they can barely budge or stretch out without bumping into a neighbor, they move more slowly, smush themselves into more compact...
Apr, 01, 2011
Injury type matters
When the bones and discs of the spinal column are broken, crushed, or displaced, the spinal cord itself may be devastatingly damaged. Now, a new computer model suggests that the manner in...
Jul, 01, 2008
August 2007 saw a surge of new open-source software for simulating musculoskeletal movement. In addition to OpenSim 1.0 (described in the Fall 2007 issue of this magazine), FEBio arrived on the scene...
Apr, 01, 2008
Computer simulation helps explain how plants grow
The petals of every flower and the leaves sprouting from every plant stalk have characteristic arrangements, a phenomenon called phyllotaxis. For two centuries, botanists have puzzled over the force...
Jul, 01, 2007
Gene therapy to correct inherited illnesses hinges on successful delivery of DNA into a person’s cells. Most gene therapists work with viruses to ferry their DNA cargo. Yet the body tends to...
Oct, 01, 2009
Every year, doctors in the United States perform more than a million angioplasties: By inflating a tiny balloon inside a clogged artery, cardiologists can compress fatty plaques and restore blood...
Dec, 31, 2008
Understanding how actin produces force by pushing rather than squeezing
Rocketing within and between human gut cells, Listeria monocytogenes—a motile, foodborne bacterium—leaves a comet-like tail of actin protein behind it and makes us sick. Scientists have...
Jan, 01, 2010
Computer model supports one theory of why sex is such a good idea
Sex is a costly undertaking. Finding partners takes time and energy. Sexual contact can transmit disease. And if reproductive success is measured by how many genes you pass on, females would be...
Jul, 01, 2007
The fittest organisms survive and produce offspring, according to the Darwinian theory of natural selection. And the changes that make an organism fit happen at the molecular level: when genes mutate...
Oct, 01, 2007
Simulating how cell membranes form vesicles
Whenever a cell needs to get rid of waste, transport materials, sort proteins, or build new organelles, membranes remodel themselves. Often that means forming small enclosed compartments called...
Jul, 01, 2007
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