2'-O-Methyl-A(Bz)-Suc-CPG; 500 Å (RNA)

A liquid marble is a liquid droplet coated by a hydrophobic powder. The liquid marble does not wet adjacent surfaces and therefore can be manipulated as a dry soft body. A Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is an oscillatory chemical reaction exhibiting waves of oxidation. We demonstrate how to make a photo-sensor from BZ medium liquid marbles. We insert electrodes into a liquid marble, prepared from BZ solution and coated with polyethylene powder. The electrodes record a potential difference which oscillates due to oxidation wave-fronts crossing the electrodes. When the BZ marble is illuminated by a light source, the oxidation wave-fronts are hindered and, thus, the electrical potential recorded ceases to oscillate. We characterise several types of responses of BZ marble photosensors to various stimuli, and provide explanations of the recorded activity. BZ liquid marble photosensors may find applications in the fields of liquid electronics, soft robotics and unconventional computing.

Border-zone (BZ) and watershed infarcts occur at the junction of two artery territories and are precipitated by a hemodynamic impairment although they cannot be excluded from microembolic etiology. These strokes may often be preceded by specifically precipitating circumstances that induce hypotension and/or hypovolemia (rising from a supine position, exercise, Valsalva's maneuver, administration of antihypertensive drugs, bleeding and anemia). Anterior BZ infarction occurs with a motor deficit of one or both contralateral limbs, associated with aphasia or mood disturbance. Campimetric disturbances are a constant feature of posterior BZ infarct associated with fluent aphasia and hemihypoesthesia. Subcortical and capsule-thalamic BZ infarctions often mimic lacunar syndrome due to small-vessel disease. Cerebellar BZ infarction is associated with non-specific vertigo syndrome or ataxia, while in brainstem BZ infarction patients are comatose with other signs of brainstem being compromised.

The circadian rhythm is a fundamental physiological function for a wide range of organisms. The molecular machinery for generating rhythms has been elucidated over the last few decades. Nevertheless, the mechanism for temperature compensation of the oscillation period, which is a prominent property of the circadian rhythm, is still controversial. In this study, we propose a new mechanism through a chemically synthetic approach (i.e., we realized temperature compensation by the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) gels). The BZ gels are prepared by embedding a metal catalyst of the BZ reaction into the gel polymer. We made the body of BZ gels using a temperature-sensitive polymer gel, which enabled temperature compensation of the oscillation by using temperature dependence of volume. Moreover, we constructed a simple mathematical model for the BZ oscillation in temperature-sensitive gels. The model can reproduce temperature compensation of BZ gels, even though all reactions are temperature sensitive according to the Arrhenius rule. Our finding hints that a soft body coupling may be underlying temperature-compensated biological functions, including circadian rhythms.