Surfactants, micelles, and vesicles constitute a class of self-assembled soft-matter physical systems arising from amphiphilic molecules in solution. Above the critical micelle concentration, surfactants spontaneously form micelles, typically spherical or anisotropic aggregates with hydrophobic cores and hydrophilic coronas, governed by minimization of interfacial free energy and packing constraints. At higher concentrations or appropriate conditions (e.g., temperature, ionic strength, tail architecture), these assemblies can transition into bilayer-based vesicles, closed shell structures encapsulating aqueous volumes and exhibiting bending elasticity, membrane tension, and permeability properties. Collectively, these systems serve as model platforms for studying interfacial thermodynamics, mesoscale organization, and transport phenomena in complex fluids.
New experimental results have cast doubt on earlier proposals suggesting that spherical, cell-like membranes could form in the methane lakes of Saturn's largest moon. Through results published in Science Advances, Tuan Vu ...
Lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, best known as the delivery vehicle for the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines received by billions of people, are now at the center of a much larger medical revolution. Researchers are racing to use them ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 11, 2026
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For the first time, researchers in France and Israel have observed how an emulsified liquid droplet can transform from a hexagon into a six-pointed star shape in response to rising temperature. Publishing their results in ...
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny biological bubbles that carry nucleic acids and proteins between cells, playing an essential role in tissue repair, neuroprotection and immune health. By isolating the surface proteins ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 23, 2026
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54
Drugs made of mRNA have the potential to transform medicine—if only they could get into cells in one piece. Now, University of Connecticut researchers have shown that packaging mRNA like a virus could smuggle it into cells ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 23, 2026
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23
The tiny fatty capsules that deliver COVID-19 mRNA vaccines into billions of arms may work better when they're a little disorganized. That's the surprising finding from researchers who developed a new way to examine these ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 21, 2026
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73
Scientists have uncovered an elegant biophysical trick that tuberculosis-causing bacteria use to survive inside human cells, a discovery that could lead to new strategies for fighting one of the world's deadliest infectious ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 21, 2026
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103
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny membrane-bound particles released by cells to transport proteins and other molecules to neighboring cells. Because of this natural delivery ability, EVs have attracted growing interest ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 16, 2026
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23
Osmotic energy, often called blue energy, is a promising way to generate sustainable electricity from the natural mixing of salt and fresh water. It exploits the voltage that arises when ions from saltwater pass through an ...
Nanophysics
Feb 16, 2026
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37
A new study may change the way scientists think about the distance traveled by tiny bubbles carrying signals between cells that are embedded in tissue. These particles, called extracellular vesicles, are known to safely carry ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 11, 2026
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