Description
An annual survey of the physics.bio-ph arXiv category, covering research published from September 2025 – August 2026. Built on a close-reading set of 120 papers and organised into 44 chapters, it maps the year by the field's research sub-directions.
Book framework (share of the year's output):
- Optical Imaging and Microfluidic Biosensors (15.7%) — Developing advanced optical microscopy and microfluidic platforms for label-free, high-resolution biomedical imaging and point-of-care diagnostics.
- Stochastic Dynamics and Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics (14.9%) — Modeling stochastic, non-equilibrium processes in complex biological systems using entropy, diffusion, and scaling frameworks.
- Active Matter and Collective Transport (14.5%) — Studying self-propelled particles, active flows, and emergent collective dynamics in biological and soft-matter systems.
- Cell Mechanics and Tissue Engineering (12.2%) — Investigating mechanical properties of cells and tissues, and developing scaffolds for controlled drug delivery and tissue regeneration.
- Molecular Dynamics and Protein Simulation (12.2%) — Using molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning to study protein structure, folding, and membrane interactions.
- Neural Networks and Brain Dynamics (10.1%) — Modeling neural activity, network plasticity, and brain stimulation effects using mean-field and network-based approaches.
- Biomolecular Condensates and Phase Separation (6.4%) — Exploring liquid-liquid phase separation, droplet formation, and condensate dynamics in cellular and chemical systems.
- Information Processing and Sensory Systems (5.3%) — Analyzing energy-efficient information processing, mutual information, and noise in biological sensory and gene regulatory systems.
- Quantum Effects and Radical Pair Mechanisms (5.3%) — Investigating quantum coherence, radical-pair spin dynamics, and magnetic field effects in photosynthesis and biological magnetic sensing.
- DNA Mechanics and Nanopore Sensing (3.3%) — Studying DNA structure, replication dynamics, and nanopore-based characterization under stress and radiation conditions.
Each sub-direction is covered across three chapters — how it framed its questions, the strength of its key findings, and its open debates and frontiers — so the reader gets a traceable picture of what this part of the field actually produced over the year.