The three-dimensional structures of noncoding RNA molecules reveal recurring architectural motifs that have been exploited for the design of artificial RNA nanomaterials. Programmed assembly of RNA nanoobjects from autonomously folding tetraloop-receptor complexes as well as junction motifs has been achieved previously through sequence-directed hybridization of complex sets of long oligonucleot...

he machine that is a cell is more than the sum of its protein parts. A large step toward understanding how those parts are so effectively put together has been taken by Patrick Aloy, Rob Russell (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany), and colleagues. Their work has identified ‫ف‬ 100 yeast protein complexes and predicted interactions within and among many of them. " We were working on a large scale to mod...

We explain microscopically why split attractor flows, known to underlie certain stationary BPS solutions of four dimensional N = 2 supergravity, are the relevant data to describe wrapped D-branes in Calabi-Yau compactifcations of type II string theory. We work entirely in the context of the classical geometry of A-branes, i.e. special Lagrangian submanifolds, avoiding both the use of homologica...

The design of a machine which is composed of homogeneous mechanical units is described. We show the design of both hardware and control software of the unit. Each unit can connect with other units and change the connection by itself. In spite of its simple mechanism, a set of these units realizes various mechanical functions. We developed control software of the unit which realizes “self-assemb...

The ribosome is an ancient ribonucleoprotein machine universally responsible for catalyzing protein synthesis. Within eukaryotic cells, mitochondria contain their own ribosomes (mitoribosomes), which are highly modified ribosomes of bacterial descent, specialized for the synthesis of a handful of proteins, all essential for the biogenesis of the oxidative phosphorylation system. With high-resol...

We look at robotic systems made of separate discrete components that, by selfassembling, can organize into physical structures of growing size. We review 22 such systems, exhibiting components ranging from passive mechanical parts to mobile robots. We present a taxonomy of the systems, and discuss their design and function. We then focus on a particular system, the swarm-bot. In swarm-bot, the ...