Modern cells are complex chemical entities with cytoskeletons, finely regulated internal and external molecules, and genetic ...

Biological processes that govern our lives are many, intertwined, and often difficult to understand. They involve countless ...

Cell physiology is the study of the functional properties of cells, the basic units of life, and encompasses the investigation of processes such as metabolism, signal transduction, gene expression, ...

Schematic of an active cell membrane. In a typical active biological process, active proteins (shown in a variety of colors) in a cell membrane (shown in blue) interact with various biological ...

Scientists have uncovered new details about how cells manage the distribution of lipids in their cell membrane. These lipids, known as phospholipids, are arranged in a bilayer of membranes, regulating ...

The chemical reactions on which life depends need a place to happen. That place is the cell. All the things which biology recognises as indisputably alive are either cells or conglomerations of cells ...

Kintsugi, the traditional Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending cracks with lacquer and gold. Kintsugi visibly incorporates the history of an object into its new form. In this analogy, ...

Cell membranes cradle, protect, and gatekeep living cells. Membranes can even affect how a cell behaves. But membranes' own erratic behavior has puzzled scientists for years. Turns out, it's all about ...

Lipid bilayers in mammalian membranes can have a more asymmetric composition than previously thought, new research shows. This lipid abundance asymmetry is enabled by the unique properties of ...

When the cell's recycling stations, the lysosomes, start leaking, it can become dangerous. Toxic waste risks spreading and ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. The bottom of the ocean is cold, dark, and under extreme pressure. It is not a place suited to the physiology of us surface dwellers: At ...