One of Nature’s Most Complex Molecular Machines

About this episode

This episode explores the complexities of nuclear pore complexes and how new microscopy techniques are revealing their intricacies.

At the center of little holes in cell nuclei is a mystery. Here, clumps of proteins wiggle disordered tails around like seaweed. They drive a molecular machine that moves countless molecules in and out of the nucleus efficiently, with little room for error. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with biology writer Yasemin Saplakoglu about how new high-def microscopy is revealing the intricacies of these nuclear pore complexes like never before. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

People in this episode

Host: Samir Patel

Guest: Yasemin Saplakoglu

Topics covered

• molecular biology
• cell biology
• microscopy
• nuclear pore complexes
• protein dynamics

Keywords

• nuclear pore complexes
• high-def microscopy
• molecular machine
• cell nuclei
• protein clumps

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