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Cold dense regions of molecular clouds can contract gravitationally when support is insufficient.
ModelEarth & cosmosPlanetary material classes and interior inferenceTerrestrial planets are dominated by rock and metal; giant planets contain larger proportions of light gases and volatile-rich material.
ModelEarth & cosmosComparative planetary atmospheres and energy balanceAtmospheric mass, composition and opacity affect a planet's surface conditions.
ModelEarth & cosmosAsteroid and comet material evidenceAsteroids include bodies with differing rocky, carbon-rich and metallic material signatures; meteorites and spacecraft observations test interpretations of their histories.
ModelEarth & cosmosGas phases of the interstellar mediumThe interstellar medium contains ionized, atomic and molecular gas alongside dust.
DefinitionEarth & cosmosGalactic components and stellar populationsThe Milky Way contains disk, bulge and halo components with differing distributions, motions and stellar populations.
ModelEarth & cosmosGalaxy morphology and physical populationsSpiral galaxies commonly contain a disk, bulge and spiral patterns with gas and ongoing star formation.
DefinitionEarth & cosmosGravitational lens geometry and image multiplicityA thin gravitational lens relates a source's unlensed angular position to observed image positions through a mass-dependent deflection.
ModelEarth & cosmosCosmological redshift and expansionIn an FLRW expansion model, light emitted and observed by comoving observers is stretched by the ratio of their scale factors.
ModelEarth & cosmosEarly-universe nuclei and photon decouplingThe hot expanding universe passed through changing particle and radiation conditions.
ModelEarth & cosmosCosmic structure growth and dark-matter modellingIn the standard cosmological model, small density variations grow gravitationally and dark-matter structures help concentrate baryonic matter after photon coupling becomes less effective.
ModelBiology · Physics · ChemistryIon equilibrium potentials and membrane current balanceAn ion's equilibrium potential balances its chemical and electrical driving terms.
ModelBiologyUbiquitin, proteasomes and lysosomal turnoverEukaryotic protein abundance depends on synthesis and degradation.
ModelBiologyCaspases and mitochondrial/death-receptor apoptosisIn representative animal apoptosis pathways, activated initiator caspases promote an execution cascade that cleaves cellular targets.
ModelBiologyBase excision versus nucleotide excision repairBase-excision repair begins when a glycosylase removes a recognized damaged base, leaving a site that is processed and restored by DNA synthesis and ligation.
ModelBiologyNonhomologous DNA end joiningEnd joining can restore continuity of a double-strand-broken DNA molecule without using a long homologous donor template.
ModelBiologySensory transduction and graded receptor potentialsSensory receptors convert appropriate physical or chemical stimuli into changes in cellular electrical signalling.
ModelBiologyExperimental units and biological inferenceThe experimental unit is the entity independently assigned to a treatment in a specified design.
MethodBiologyNephron transport and the concentrating gradientIn the mammalian nephron model, selective tubular transport modifies filtered fluid.
ModelBiologyVasopressin and renal sodium-water controlVasopressin released from the posterior pituitary can increase collecting-duct water permeability through aquaporin insertion.
ModelBiologyEndocrine axes and negative feedbackIn the vertebrate thyroid-axis example, hypothalamic signals stimulate pituitary hormone release, which stimulates the thyroid.
ModelBiologyHormonal coordination of glucose storage and releaseIn the mammalian model, pancreatic insulin and glucagon coordinate nutrient use and storage with blood-glucose availability.
ModelBiologyRespiratory partial pressures and oxygen transportGases diffuse across respiratory surfaces down their own partial-pressure gradients.
ModelBiologyVentilation, pressure and alveolar surface tensionMammalian ventilation moves air when respiratory-muscle action changes thoracic volume and pressure.
ModelBiologyMammalian cardiac conduction and blood flowCoordinated electrical activation drives atrial and ventricular contractions.
ModelBiologyActin–myosin cycling and contraction controlMyosin interaction with actin converts ATP-dependent molecular cycling into force.
ModelBiologyNeural and hormonal coordination of digestionIn the vertebrate digestive example, signals coordinate secretion, motility and delivery of material between compartments.
ModelBiologyAntigen presentation and lymphocyte specificityIn jawed-vertebrate adaptive immunity, B-cell receptors recognize suitable antigen structures, while T-cell receptors recognize antigen presented with appropriate MHC molecules.
ModelBiologyOperons and integrated bacterial transcription controlIn the E. coli lac example, a repressor and a cAMP-linked activator integrate lactose-related and glucose-related conditions to regulate transcription.
ModelBiologyPost-transcriptional RNA stability and silencingRNA-binding proteins, RNA processing and degradation influence how long a transcript remains available for translation.
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