Chemical oscillations arise solely from kinetic nonlinearity and hence can occur near equilibrium

The kinetic chemical equilibrium regime

We investigate reactive gas mixtures in the kinetic chemical equilibrium regime. Our starting point is a generalized Boltzmann equation with a chemical source term valid for arbitrary reaction mechanisms and yielding a positive entropy production. We rst study the Enskog expansion in the kinetic chemical equilibrium regime. We derive a new set of macroscopic equations in the zerothand rst-order...

Varing chemical equilibrium gives kinetic parameters

We are interested in finding the kinetic parameters of a chemical reaction. Previous methods for finding these parameters rely on the dynamic behaviour of the system. This means that the methods are time-sensitive and often rely on non-linear curve fitting. In the same manner as previous techniques, we consider the concentrations of chemicals in a reaction. However, we investigate the static be...

Can a Synaptic Signal Arise from Noise?

The spontaneous fusion of vesicles at nerve terminals produces random miniature postsynaptic potentials (quantal responses) that are thought to have little functional significance. In this issue of Neuron, Sharma and Vijayaraghavan provide evidence that exogenous signals can accelerate and synchronize the occurrence of quanta strongly enough to activate postsynaptic neurons in what may be a new...

How life can arise from chemistry

Cortical oscillations arise from contextual interactions that regulate sparse coding.

Precise spike times carry information and are important for synaptic plasticity. Synchronizing oscillations such as gamma bursts could coordinate spike times, thus regulating information transmission in the cortex. Oscillations are driven by inhibitory neurons and are modulated by sensory stimuli and behavioral states. How their power and frequency are regulated is an open question. Using a mod...