A tale of two rhythms: Locked clocks and chaos in biology.

The fundamental mechanisms that control and regulate biological organisms exhibit a surprising level of complexity. Oscillators are perhaps the simplest motifs that produce time-varying dynamics and are ubiquitous in biological systems. It is also known that such biological oscillators interact with each other-for instance, circadian oscillators affect the cell cycle, and somitogenesis clock proteins in adjacent cells affect each other in developing embryos. Therefore, it is vital to understand the effects that can emerge from non-linear interaction between oscillations. Here, we show how oscillations typically arise in biology and take the reader on a tour through the great variety in dynamics that can emerge even from a single pair of coupled oscillators. We explain how chaotic dynamics can emerge and outline the methods of detecting this in experimental time traces. Finally, we discuss the potential role of such complex dynamical features in biological systems.

Intermittency and universality in fully developed inviscid and weakly compressible turbulent flows.

We perform high-resolution numerical simulations of homogenous and isotropic compressible turbulence, with an average 3D Mach number close to 0.3. We study the statistical properties of intermittency for velocity, density, and entropy. For the velocity field, which is the only quantity that can be compared to the isotropic incompressible case, we find no statistical differences in its behavior in the inertial range due either to the slight compressibility or to the different dissipative mechanism. For the density field, we find evidence of "frontlike" structures, although no shocks are produced by the simulation.