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  Tuning collective actuation of active solids by optimizing activity localization

  Active solids, more specifically elastic lattices embedded with polar active units, exhibit collective actuation when the elasto-active feedback, generically present in such systems, exceeds some critical value. The dynamics then condensates on (...)

  
  
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  Darwinian Evolution of Self-Replicating DNA in a Synthetic Protocell

  Replication, heredity, and evolution are characteristic of Life. We and others have postulated that the reconstruction of a synthetic living system in the laboratory will be contingent on the development of a genetic self-replicator capable of (...)

  
  
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  Dynamics of Active Defects on the Anisotropic Surface of an Ellipsoidal Droplet

  We investigate the steady state of an ellipsoidal active nematic shell using experiments and numerical simulations. We create the shells by coating microsized ellipsoidal droplets with a protein-based active cytoskeletal gel, thus obtaining (...)

  
  
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  Studies on V-Formation and Echelon Flight Utilizing Flapping-Wing Drones

  V-Formation and echelon formation flights can be seen used by migratory birds throughout the year and have left many scientists wondering why they choose very specific formations. Experiments and analytical studies have been completed on the (...)

  
  
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  Trading particle shape with fluid symmetry: on the mobility matrix in 3-D chiral fluids

  Chiral fluids – such as fluids under rotation or a magnetic field as well as synthetic and biological active fluids – flow in a different way than ordinary ones. Due to symmetries broken at the microscopic level, chiral fluids may have (...)

  
  
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  DNA circuit-based immunoassay for ultrasensitive protein pattern classification

  Cytokines are important immune modulators, and pivotal biomarkers for the diagnostic of various diseases. In standard analytical procedure, each protein is detected individually, using for instance gold standard ELISA protocols or nucleic acid (...)

  
  
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  Pattern formation by turbulent cascades

  Fully developed turbulence is a universal and scale-invariant chaotic state characterized by an energy cascade from large to small scales at which the cascade is eventually arrested by dissipation1,2,3,4,5,6. Here we show how to harness these (...)

  
  
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  Topology in soft and biological matter

  The last years have witnessed remarkable advances in our understanding of the emergence and consequences of topological constraints in biological and soft matter. Examples are abundant in relation to (bio)polymeric systems and range from the (...)

  
  
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  A role for conformational changes in enzyme catalysis

  The role played by conformational changes in enzyme catalysis is controversial. In addition to examining specific enzymes, studying formal models can help identify the conditions under which conformational changes promote catalysis. Here, we (...)

  
  
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  Growth of membranes formed by associating polymers at interfaces

  Polymer association at liquid–liquid interfaces is a promising way to spontaneously obtain soft self-healing membranes. In the case of reversible bonding between two polymers, the macromolecules are mobile everywhere within the membrane and (...)

  
  

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