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\u201cIt was fairly superb how nicely the experimental knowledge and numerical simulation matched,\u201d Eckert stated. In actual fact, it matched so intently that Carenza\u2019s first response was that it should be fallacious. The staff jokingly fearful {that a} peer reviewer would possibly suppose they\u2019d cheated. \u201cIt actually was that lovely,\u201d Carenza stated.<\/p>\n
The observations reply a \u201clong-standing query about the kind of order current in tissues,\u201d stated Joshua Shaevitz<\/a>, a physicist at Princeton College who reviewed the paper (and didn’t suppose they\u2019d cheated). Science typically \u201cwill get murky,\u201d he stated, when knowledge factors to seemingly conflicting truths\u2014on this case, the nested symmetries. \u201cThen somebody factors out or reveals that, nicely, these issues aren\u2019t so distinct. They\u2019re each proper.\u201d<\/p>\n Type, Power, and Perform<\/strong><\/p>\n Precisely defining a liquid crystal\u2019s symmetry isn\u2019t only a mathematical train. Relying on its symmetry, a crystal\u2019s stress tensor\u2014a matrix that captures how a fabric deforms beneath stress\u2014seems to be completely different. This tensor is the mathematical hyperlink to the fluid dynamics equations Giomi wished to make use of to attach bodily forces and organic features.<\/p>\n Bringing the physics of liquid crystals to bear on tissues is a brand new option to perceive the messy, difficult world of biology, Hirst stated.<\/p>\n The exact implications of the handoff from hexatic to nematic order aren\u2019t but clear, however the staff suspects that cells could exert a level of management over that transition. There\u2019s even evidence<\/a> that the emergence of nematic order has one thing to do with cell adhesion, they stated. Determining how and why tissues manifest these two interlaced symmetries is a undertaking for the longer term\u2014though Giomi is already engaged on utilizing the outcomes to know how most cancers cells movement by means of the physique after they metastasize. And Shaevitz famous {that a} tissue\u2019s multiscale liquid crystallinity could possibly be associated to embryogenesis\u2014the method by which embryos mould themselves into organisms.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one central thought in tissue biophysics, Giomi stated, it\u2019s that construction offers rise to forces, and forces give rise to features. In different phrases, controlling multiscale symmetry could possibly be a part of how tissues add as much as greater than the sum of their cells.<\/p>\n There\u2019s \u201ca triangle of kind, pressure, and performance,\u201d Giomi stated. \u201cCells use their form to manage forces, and these in flip function the working engine of mechanical performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Original story<\/em><\/a> reprinted with permission from<\/em> Quanta Magazine<\/a>, an editorially impartial publication of the<\/em> Simons Foundation<\/em><\/a> whose mission is to boost public understanding of science by overlaying analysis developments and traits in arithmetic and the bodily and life sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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