സംവാദം:Biophysics

വിക്കിപീഡിയ, ഒരു സ്വതന്ത്ര വിജ്ഞാനകോശം.

Biophysics (also biological physics) is an interdisciplinary science that applies the theories and methods of physical sciences, especially those of physics, to questions of biology.

Biophysics research today comprises a number of specific biological studies, which do not share a unique identifying factor, or subject themselves to clear and concise definitions. In the recent past, biophysics included creating mechanical limbs and nanomachines to regulate biological functions. Nowadays, these are more commonly referred to as belonging to the fields of bioengineering and nanotechnology respectively. We may expect these definitions to further refine themselves.

What doe’s biophysics study? Biophysics seeks to answer questions using an eclectic approach. The specific molecules involved in a biological process are identified using the techniques of chemical and biochemical analysis. Their molecular structures and interactions are determined using the spectroscopic techniques of physics and chemistry. And the relationship between biological function and molecular structure is investigated using highly precise and exquisitely sensitive physical instruments and techniques that are able to monitor the properties or the movement of specific groups of molecules, or in exciting new developments, are able to view and manipulate single molecules and to measure their behavior.

Biophysics explains biological functions in terms of molecular mechanisms: precise physical descriptions of how individual molecules work together like tiny machines to produce specific biological functions. Some of these biophysical mechanisms, many involving detailed molecular models, are described in detail under Resources in Biophysics.

Topics in biophysics and related fields 1. Hearing (sense) Hearing, or audition, is one of the traditional five senses and refers to the ability to detect sound. In vertebrates, including human beings, hearing is performed by the auditory system. Sound is detected by the ear, and transduced into nerve impulses that are perceived by the brain. Many animals use sound in order to communicate with each other, hearing in these species is particularly important for survival and reproduction 2. Visual perception Visual perception is one of the senses, consisting of the ability to detect light and interpret (see) it. The resulting perception is known as eyesight, sight or naked eye vision. Vision has a specific sensory system, the visual system.


3. Animal locomotion In biology and physics, animal locomotion is the study of how animals move, and is part of biophysics. Much of the study is an application of Newton's third law of motion: if at rest, to move forwards an animal must push something backwards. Terrestrial animals must push the solid ground, swimming and flying animals must push against a fluid (either air or water). The topic splits into the following disjoint categories 4. Electrophysiology Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electrical current flow on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins, to whole tissues like the heart. In neuroscience, it includes measurements of the electrical activity of neurons, and particularly action potential activity. 5. Bioenergetics Bioenergetics, loosely defined, is the study of energy investment and flow through living systems. This broad definition includes the study of thousands of different processes ranging from cellular respiration and the production of ATP, to the study of evolutionary costs accompanying the development of a particular trait, such as the immune system. One question this area of science seeks to answer is whether protective benefit of a particular trait is worth the energy investment it requires. 6. Biological thermodynamics Biological thermodynamics (Greek: bios = life and logikos = reason + Greek: thermos = heat and dynamics = power) is the study of energy transformation in the biological sciences. More definitively, biological thermodynamics may be defined as the quantitative study of the energy transductions that occur in and between living organisms, structures, and cells and of the nature and function of the chemical processes underlying these transductions. 7. Molecular motors Molecular motors are biological "nanomachines" and are the essential agents of movement in living organisms. Generally speaking, a motor is defined as a device that consumes energy in one form and converts it into motion or mechanical power; many protein-based molecular motors convert the chemical energy present in ATP into mechanical energy [1]. In terms of energetic efficiency, these types of motors are often superior to currently available man-made motors. One important difference between molecular motors and macroscopic motors is that molecular motors operate in the thermal bath, an environment where thermal noise is significant relative to the motor's energy consumption. 8. Biophotonics The term biophotonics denotes a combination of biology and photonics, with photonics being the science of direct manipulation of photons, quantum units of light. Photonics is related to electronics in that it is believed that photons will play a similar central role in future information technology as electrons do today. Biophotonics has therefore become the established general term for all techniques that deal with the relation of biological material and photons. This refers to emission, detection, absorption, reflection, modification, and creation of radiation from living organisms and organic material. Areas of application are life science, medicine, agriculture, and environmental science. 9. Bioelectromagnetism Bioelectromagnetism (sometimes equated with bioelectricity) refers to the static voltage of biological cells and to the electric currents that flow in living tissues, such as nerves and muscles, as a result of action potentials. Biological cells use bioelectricity to store metabolic energy, to do work or trigger internal changes, and to signal one another. Bioelectromagnetism is the electric current produced by action potentials along with the magnetic fields they generate through the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction. 10. X-ray Wilhelm Röntgen, of Albert von Kölliker's hand. X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometres, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 to 30 000 PHz (1015 hertz). X-rays are primarily used for diagnostic radiography and crystallography. X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation and as such can be dangerous. In many languages it is called Röntgen radiation after the investigator of the radiation, Wilhelm Röntgen. 11. Mutation In biology, mutations are changes to the genetic material (usually DNA or RNA). Mutations can be caused by copying errors in the genetic material during cell division and by exposure to radiation, chemicals (mutagens), or viruses, or can occur deliberately under cellular control during processes such as meiosis or hypermutation. In multicellular organisms, mutations can be subdivided into germline mutations, which can be passed on to descendants, and somatic mutations.

EXTRA KNOWLEDGE Nanotechnology is the design, characterization, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size at the nanoscale. Eight to ten atoms span one nanometer (nm). The human hair is approximately 70,000 to 80,000 nm thick. Nanotechnology has been put to practical use for a wide range of applications, including stain resistant pants, enhanced tire reinforcement and improved suntan lotion. statistical ensembleexperiments ensemble (also statistical ensemble or thermodynamic ensemble) is an idealization consisting of a large number of mental copies (sometimes infinitely many) of a system, considered all at once, each of which represents a possible state that the real system might be in. This article treats the notion of ensembles in a mathematically rigorous fashion, although relevant physical aspects will be mentioned A macromolecule is a molecule with a large molecular mass, but generally the use of the term is restricted to polymers and molecules which structurally include polymers. [1] Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a molecular biology technique, [1] for enzymatically replicating DNA without using a living organism, such as E. coli or yeast. Like amplification using living organisms, the technique allows a small amount of the DNA molecule to be amplified exponentially. However, because it is an in vitro technique, it can be performed without restrictions on the form of DNA and it can be extensively modified to perform a wide array of genetic manipulations. PCR is commonly used in medical and biological research labs for a variety of tasks, such as the detection of hereditary diseases, the identification of genetic fingerprints, the diagnosis of infectious diseases, the cloning of genes, paternity testing, and DNA computing. Photonics is the science and technology of generating and controlling photons, particularly in the visible and near infra-red spectrum. Photonics as a science is closely related to quantum optics and optoelectronics with somewhat unclear boundaries. Bioengineering Biological engineering (also biosystems engineering and bioengineering) is a broad-based engineering discipline that deals with bio-molecular and molecular processes, product design, sustainability and analysis of biological systems. Famous biophysicists · Luigi Galvani, discoverer of bioelectricity · Hermann von Helmholtz, first to measure the velocity of nerve impulses; studied hearing and vision · Alan Hodgkin & Andrew Huxley, mathematical theory of how ion fluxes produce nerve impulses · Georg von Békésy, research on the human ear · Bernard Katz, discovered how synapses work · Hermann J. Muller, discovered that X-rays cause mutations · Linus Pauling & Robert Corey, co-discoverers of the alpha helix and beta sheet structures in proteins · Fritz-Albert Popp, pioneer of biophotons work · J. D. Bernal, X-ray crystallography of plant viruses and proteins · Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, James D. Watson and Francis Crick, pioneers of DNA crystallography and co-discoverers of the genetic code · Max Perutz & John Kendrew, pioneers of protein crystallography · Allan Cormack & Godfrey Hounsfield, development of computer assisted tomography · Paul Lauterbur & Peter Mansfield, development of magnetic resonance imaging Other notable biophysicists · Adolf Eugen Fick, responsible for Fick's law of diffusion and a method to determine cardiac output. · Howard Berg, characterized properties of bacterial chemotaxis · Steven Block, observed the motions of enzymes such as kinesin and RNA polymerase with optical tweezers · Carlos Bustamante, known for single-molecule biophysics of molecular motors and biological polymer physics · Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate who helped develop optical trapping techniques used by many biophysicists · Friedrich Dessauer, research on radiation, especially X-rays · Julio Fernandez · John J. Hopfield, worked on error correction in Transcription and Translation (kinetic proof-reading), and associative memory models (Hopfield net) · Franklin Offner, professor emeritus at Northwestern University of professor of biophysics, biomedical engineering and electronics who developed a modern prototype of the electroencephalograph and electrocardiograph called the dynograph · Benoit Roux · Mikhail Volkenshtein, Revaz Dogonadze & Zurab Urushadze, authors of the 1st Quantum-Mechanical (Physical) Model of Enzyme Catalysis, supported a theory that enzyme catalysis use quantum-mechanical effects such as tunneling. · John P. Wikswo, research on biomagnetism · Douglas Warrick, specializing in bird flight (hummingbirds and pigeons) · Balaji V N, specialized in computational biology Biological cells use bioelectricity to store metabolic energy, to do work or trigger internal changes, and to signal one another. Bioelectromagnetism is the electric current produced by action potentials along with the magnetic fields they generate through the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction

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