The bending energy of the lipid membrane is central to biological processes involving vesicles, such as endocytosis and exocytosis. To illustrate the role of bending energy in these processes, we study the response of single-component giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) subjected to external osmotic stress by glucose addition. For osmotic pressures exceeding 0.15 atm, an abrupt shape change from sph

Many human birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders are caused by loss-of-function mutations in a single copy of transcription factor (TF) and chromatin regulator genes. Although this dosage sensitivity has long been known, how and why haploinsufficiency (HI) of transcriptional regulators leads to developmental disorders (DDs) is unclear. Here I propose the hypothesis that such DDs result fr

A system we denote Seg2Pose is presented which converts pixel coordinate tracks, represented by instance segmentation masks across multiple video frames, into world coordinate pose tracks, for road users seen by static surveillance cameras. The road users are bound to a ground surface represented by a number of 3D points and does not necessarily have to be perfectly flat. The system works with one

Ability to efficiently localize productive foraging habitat is crucial for nesting success of insectivorous birds. Some bird species can use olfaction to identify caterpillar-infested trees by detection of herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), but these cues probably need to be learned. So far, we know very little about the process of olfactory learning in birds, whether insectivorous species

Tremendous progress has been made recently in imaging the contacts between intra-cellular organelles, which are thought to be mediated by soluble tethers. However, they are still difficult to study in cellulo, and reconstituting them in vitro is a standing challenge. Here we take a mimetic approach to study Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) and supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) interacting via singl

White dwarfs (WDs) often show metal lines in their spectra, indicating accretion of asteroidal material. Our Sun is to become a WD in several gigayears. Here, we examine how the solar WD accretes from the three major small body populations: the main belt asteroids (MBAs), Jovian Trojan asteroids (JTAs), and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Owing to the solar mass loss during the giant branch, 40% o

Fertilization in angiosperms involves the germination of pollen on the stigma, followed by the extrusion of a pollen tube that elongates through the style and delivers two sperm cells to the embryo sac. Sexual selection could occur throughout this process when male gametophytes compete for fertilization. The strength of sexual selection during pollen competition should be affected by the number of

The Mediterranean Basin has experienced extensive change in geology and climate over the past six million years. Yet, the relative importance of key geological events for the distribution and genetic structure of the Mediterranean fauna remains poorly understood. Here, we use population genomic and phylogenomic analyses to establish the evolutionary history and genetic structure of common wall liz

Horismenus camobiensis sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), is described based on morphological, molecular and ecological data; this new species of chalcid wasp acts as hyperparasitoid of Opsiphanis invirae (Hübner, 1818) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in its parasitoid Cotesia invirae Salgado-Neto and Whitfield, 2019 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Diagnoses with morphological and molecular characters and

A magnetic compass sense has been demonstrated in all major classes of vertebrates, as well as in many invertebrates. In mammals, controlled laboratory studies of mice have provided evidence for a robust magnetic compass that is comparable to, or exceeds, the performance of that in other animals. Nevertheless, the vast majority of laboratory studies of spatial behavior and cognition in murine rode

The magnon-phonon interaction is receiving growing attention due to its key role in spin caloritronics and the emerging field of acoustic spintronics. At resonance, this magnetoelastic interaction forms magnon polarons, which underpin exotic phenomena such as magnonic heat currents and phononic spin, but is mostly investigated using mesoscopic spin-lattice models. Motivated to integrate the magnon

The aim is to explain why union density is not only considerably higher in the Ghent country Sweden than in non-Ghent Norway but also why it has declined much more in Sweden, in par-ticular among blue-collar workers. We show how changes to Swedish unemployment insurance in 2007–2013 were followed by a decline in union density and how white-collar unions were more successful than blue-collar unionsThe aim is to explain why union density is not only considerably higher in the Ghent country Sweden than in non-Ghent Norway but also why it has declined much more in Sweden, in particular among blue-collar workers. We show how changes to Swedish unemployment insurance in 2007–2013 were followed by a decline in union density and how white-collar unions were more successful than blue-collar unions

Rap1 is the main protein that binds double-stranded telomeric DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Examination of the telomere functions of Rap1 is complicated by the fact that it also acts as a transcriptional regulator of hundreds of genes and is encoded by an essential gene. In this study, we disrupt Rap1 telomere association by expressing a mutant telomerase RNA subunit (tlc1-tm) that introduces m

Cold region ecosystems store vast amounts of soil organic carbon (C), which upon warming and decomposition can affect the C balance and potentially change these ecosystems from C sinks to carbon dioxide (CO2) sources. We quantified the decadal year-round CO2 flux from an alpine steppe-ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau using eddy covariance and automatic chamber approaches during a period of signifi

Graphene pn-junctions offer a rich portfolio of intriguing physical phenomena. They stand as the potential building blocks for a broad spectrum of future technologies, ranging from electronic lenses analogous to metamaterials in optics, to high-performance photodetectors important for a variety of optoelectronic applications. The production of graphene pn-junctions and their precise structuring at

Multi-pass cells (MPCs) have emerged as very attractive tools for spectral broadening and post-compression applications. We discuss pulse energy limitations of standard MPCs considering basic geometrical scaling principles and introduce a novel energy scaling method using a MPC arranged in a bow tie geometry. Employing nonlinear pulse propagation simulations, we numerically demonstrate the compres

Eyeblink conditioning is the most popular paradigm for studying classical conditioning in humans. But the fact that eyelids are under voluntary control means it is ultimately impossible to ascertain whether a blink response is ‘conditioned’ or a timed ‘voluntary’ blink response. In contrast, the pupillary response is an autonomic response, not under voluntary control. By conditioning the pupillary

Attosecond pulses, produced through high-order harmonic generation in gases, have been successfully used for observing ultrafast, subfemtosecond electron dynamics in atoms, molecules and solid state systems. Today's typical attosecond sources, however, are often impaired by their low repetition rate and the resulting insufficient statistics, especially when the number of detectable events per shot

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are proteins that, in comparison with globular/structured proteins, lack a distinct tertiary structure. Here, we use the model IDP, Histatin 5, for studying its dynamical properties under self-crowding conditions with quasi-elastic neutron scattering in combination with full atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The aim is to determine the effects

Understanding the electronic structure and chemical bonding of transition metal complexes is important for improving the function of molecular photosensitizers and catalysts. We have utilized X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Fe L3 edge to investigate the electronic structure of two Fe N-heterocyclic carbene complexes with similar chemical st