Strange interfacial MOLECULAR DYNAMICS

The motion underlying contact interactions that are vital for biology has farther-reaching implications than previously thought. Biological functions such as gene regulation and metabolism in living cells rely on highly specific molecular interactions. The structure and dynamics of interfaces-from the nanoscale surfaces of intramolecular domains and the molecular surfaces of proteins, to the mesoscale surfaces of organelles, and even to the microscale surfaces of live cells-mediate those interactions. Our understanding of how interfaces evolve and how they couple to their complex environments is still developing, and several Nobel Prize-winning technologies have aided the endeavor to understand them (see box 1).