Publication

When light is scattered, how accurately can a measurement result be derived from that light? An international research team has explored the limits of what is possible using artificial intelligence.

A scientific team from Grenoble, involving the Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de physique (LIPhy - CNRS/UGA) and the Centre Inria de l'UGA, has developed a groundbreaking computational model that reveals universal laws governing how creatures swim across vastly different sizes and environments — from microscopic bacteria to massive blue whales.

In a recent work, researchers show that particles entrained in a flow close to a deformable wall undergo a force that moves them slightly away from it, an important result for the general understanding of transport phenomena in biology.

Cyanobacteria have an internal biological clock that rhythms their activities on a 24-hour cycle. Thanks to this finely regulated mechanism, these micro-organisms are able to anticipate day/night cycles. A study recently published in Scientific Reports looked at how this clock reacts when the temperature drops below 25°C, an important threshold for their physiology.

Using laser nucleation of microbubbles, physicists have shown that stomata, the miniature 'gates' that regulate light-dependent evaporation in vascular plants, remain inactive in non-vascular plants such as mosses.

Macrophages are immune system cells that ingest and degrade microorganisms and cellular debris in a process called phagocytosis. In a study published in iScience, scientists show that the mechanical properties of the tissues surrounding macrophages influence phagocytosis, which in turn affects the way macrophages interact with their environment.

To better understand the formation, composition and evolution of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets, scientists at LIPhy have developed spectrometers using optical cavity spectroscopy (CRDS). Their high sensitivity enables them to accurately record the absorption spectra of various molecules of atmospheric and planetary interest, such as dihydrogen, water or methane, mixed with carbon dioxide.

By combining a numerical modeling approach with experiments in both structural and cellular biology, the APERTuRe project has led to a better understanding of the dynamics of a protein network in the cytoplasm of our cells. These results could prove useful in the development of new drugs.

While this dimer is one of the simplest molecular complexes, it is also one of the most fragile. Its detection at room temperature took the community by surprise.

Bubbles are ubiquitous in many research applications, from ultrasound imaging to understanding volcanic eruptions. They are also excellent acoustic resonators, being very small in size compared to the wavelength of the sound they emit. These resonant sound waves contain information about the mechanical properties of materials in the immediate vicinity of the bubble. In a recent publication in Nature Communications, a collaboration between LIPhy's Optima and Move teams proposes to exploit this phenomenon to image a sample by moving a bubble in its vicinity.