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Random walks in biology

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TLDR
This book is a lucid, straightforward introduction to the concepts and techniques of statistical physics that students of biology, biochemistry, and biophysics must know.
Abstract
This book is a lucid, straightforward introduction to the concepts and techniques of statistical physics that students of biology, biochemistry, and biophysics must know. It provides a sound basis for understanding random motions of molecules, subcellular particles, or cells, or of processes that depend on such motion or are markedly affected by it. Readers do not need to understand thermodynamics in order to acquire a knowledge of the physics involved in diffusion, sedimentation, electrophoresis, chromatography, and cell motility--subjects that become lively and immediate when the author discusses them in terms of random walks of individual particles.

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Journal ArticleDOI

Reversible Ca Gradients between the Subplasmalemma and Cytosol Differentially Activate Ca-dependent Cl Currents

TL;DR: Xenopus oocytes express several different Ca-activated Cl currents that have different waveforms and biophysical properties, and it is hypothesized that very local, transient, reversible Ca gradients develop between the subplasmalemmal space and the bulk cytosol.
Book

Microhydrodynamics, Brownian Motion, and Complex Fluids

TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the dynamics of fluids at small scales, the physical and mathematical underpinnings of Brownian motion, and the application of these subjects to the dynamics and flow of complex fluids such as colloidal suspensions and polymer solutions.
Journal ArticleDOI

Reduced Efficiency of Magnetotaxis in Magnetotactic Coccoid Bacteria in Higher than Geomagnetic Fields

TL;DR: It turns out that the contribution of the field-parallel migration velocity of magnetotactic bacteria decreases with increasing field strength from 0.1 to 1.5 mT, suggesting that magnetotaxis is optimized under geomagnetic field conditions.
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Population-level transcription cycles derive from stochastic timing of single-cell transcription.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors constructed a detailed stochastic model for single-gene transcription at the molecular level using realistic kinetics for diffusion and protein complex dynamics, and proposed that the cyclic nature of population gene expression is primarily based on the intrinsic periodicity of the transcription process itself.
Journal ArticleDOI

How Large Should Whales Be

TL;DR: Strong agreement between theory and data suggests that a universal macroevolutionary tradeoff governs body size evolution for all mammals, regardless of their habitat.