Start Your Protein Engines

In the world of hot rods, UC Berkeley professor George Oster would be considered a "motorhead." He knows the ins and outs of motor mechanics, from stroke cycles and rotary processes to thermodynamics and fuel efficiencies. But the motors he studies aren't new souped-up engines built for today's automobiles. Oster, a professor of cell and developmental biology, examines the biological nanomachines that propel bacteria through our world and pack DNA into viruses against incredible pressures.

The New New Math of String Theory

At the beginning of the last century, Albert Einstein posited a now-famous theory that forever linked geometry and fundamental physics. According to general relativity, spacetime is curved and that curvature affects the behavior of matter. And vice versa. However, Einstein couldn't contend with quantum mechanics. At that small scale, classical geometry--the stuff we all learn in elementary school--breaks down. What replaces it? Mathematical physicists, like UC Berkeley professor Mina Aganagic, are still figuring that out.

Molecular Rules Of Engagement

A single molecule doesn't usually do much of anything. But, combine a large number of molecules together and various sorts of amazing things can happen. Networks of polymers interact to propel cells, molecules in a plant's leaf work together to convert sunlight into energy, and so on. What are the rules that give rise to these emergent behaviors and can we control them? UC Berkeley scientist Phil Geissler is using the tools of theoretical chemistry to find out.

A motor of a different sort: the biomolecular portal motor of bacteriophage PHI-29 (yellow) compresses the coiled DNA into the viral capsid.