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Biology

Winter blooms at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens
A branch of yellow witchhazel against evergreen foliage and a bright blue sky

Witch hazel blooms bright against a blue sky.

(Image: Morris Arboretum)

Winter blooms at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens

The earliest winter blooms are white and yellow, ranging from pale to sun-drenched in color in an effort to woo early pollinators: flies and beetles.

Kristina García

Fruit fly development offers insights into condensed matter physics
A fruit fly sits on a piece of food

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, has long been a model species for biologists seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms of animal function and how novelty may arise in organisms. Theoretical physicist Andrea Liu of the School of Arts & Sciences is conducting research on the insect, along with biology and experimental biophysics collaborators at Duke University. Their research has opened the door to an approach that could offer not only a new understanding of how biological function emerges but also suggest a new class of systems in condensed matter physics.

(Image: iStock / nechaev-kon)

Fruit fly development offers insights into condensed matter physics

Penn Physicist Andrea Liu and collaborators modeled the behavior of tissue during a stage of fly development and found, surprisingly, it doesn’t fluidize as it shrinks but stays solid. Their approach could offer insights physical systems with complex functionality.