Adding thickener to solutions containing cell-like vesicles slows down the shrinking of pores in membranes, suggesting that the same trick may also make other membrane transformations take longer in living cells.

Pincus, P. 1999. Conformational dynamics of vesicles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(Sept. 14):10550.

Sandre, O., L. Moreaux, and F. Brochard-Wyart. 1999. Dynamics of transient pores in stretched vesicles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(Sept. 14):10591.

Peterson, I. 1996. Laser beam triggers a membrane breach. Science News 150(Dec. 21&28):389.

Françoise Brochard-Wyart
Laboratoire Physico-Chimie Curie-Unité Mixte de Recherche
168 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Institut Curie
11, rue Pierre et Marie Curie
75248 Paris Cedex 05
France

Laurent Moreaux
Laboratoire de Physiologie-Unité Mixte de Recherche
7637 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles
10, rue de Vaquelin
75231 Paris Cedex 05
France

Philip A. Pincus
University of California, Santa Barbara
Departments of Materials and Physics and
Materials Research Laboratory
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Olivier Sandre
Laboratoire Physico-Chimie Curie-Unité Mixte de Recherche
168 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Institut Curie
11, rue Pierre et Marie Curie
75248 Paris Cedex 05
France

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 12, September 18, 1999, p. 183. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.