Rolling Across the River (IMAGE)

Arizona State University

Rolling Across the River

Caption

Over short distances, electrons flow across DNA by quantum tunneling that spread fast like waves across a pond. Across longer distances, they behave more like particles and the hopping takes effect. "Think of trying to get across a river," explained Limin Xiang, a postdoctoral researcher in Tao's lab. "You can either walk across quickly on a bridge or try to hop from one rock to another. The electrons in DNA behave in similar ways as trying to get across the river, depending on the chemical information contained within the DNA.

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Jason Drees and Limin Xiang, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University

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