The dynamics of the microtubule cytoskeleton are controlled by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). In this issue, show that Mal3p, the yeast EB1 homolog, belongs to a new class of MAPs that "zipper" up the seam of the microtubule lattice.

Protein kinase Mzeta has been the subject of much recent interest, as it is the only molecule currently identified to maintain memory. Despite the wealth of studies investigating PKMζ in memory, questions remain about which types of memory PKMζ supports. Further, it is unclear how long the inhibitor of PKMz, ζ-pseudosubstrate inhibitory peptide (ZIP) remains in the brain after infusion. Here, w...

Interphase microtubule organization is critical for cell function and tissue architecture. In general, physical mechanisms are sufficient to drive microtubule organization in single cells, whereas cells within tissues are thought to utilize signalling mechanisms. By improving the imaging and quantitation of microtubule alignment within developing Drosophila embryos, here we demonstrate that mic...

INTRODUCTION Rural areas in the USA are generally poorer, more isolated, less populated, have older populations, and also unique work dynamics that fundamentally set them apart from urban areas. Additionally, funding and resources are limited in rural areas; a problem that may be exacerbated when looking specifically at town-level resources. One of the key problems in comparing US rural and urb...

Limitations of monad stacks get in the way of developing highly modular programs with effects. This pearl demonstrates that Functional Programming’s abstraction tools are up to the challenge. Of course, abstraction must be followed by clever instantiation: Huet’s zipper for the monad stack makes components jump through unanticipated hoops.

We present a zipper-based instruction set for constructing genetic programming variation operators. We study the effects of such variation operators on the lawnmower problem. Operators in this language possess the ability to outperform standard mutation and crossover in terms of both decreasing the average population error as well as the best population error. Furthermore, the expression of sta...

We study Hamiltonian unfolding—cutting a convex polyhedron along a Hamiltonian path of edges to unfold it without overlap—of two classes of polyhedra. Such unfoldings could be implemented by a single zipper, so they are also known as zipper edge unfoldings. First we consider domes, which are simple convex polyhedra. We find a family of domes whose graphs are Hamiltonian, yet any Hamiltonian unf...

We propose a new microscopic mechanism to explain the unusually fast fusion process of carbon nanotubes. We identify the detailed pathway for two adjacent (5,5) nanotubes to gradually merge into a (10,10) tube, and characterize the transition states. The propagation of the fused region is energetically favorable and proceeds in a morphology reminiscent of a Y junction via a zipper mechanism, in...

We study Hamiltonian unfolding—cutting a convex polyhedron along a Hamiltonian path of edges to unfold it without overlap—of two classes of polyhedra. Such unfoldings could be implemented by a single zipper, so they are also known as zipper edge unfoldings. First we consider domes, which are simple convex polyhedra. We find a family of domes whose graphs are Hamiltonian, yet any Hamiltonian unf...