Long Yi

Every breath you take and every muscle twitch runs on a stream of electrons flowing through proteins inside your cells. These proteins aren't static: they constantly change shape, like a spring that compresses and releases. But until now, no one has seen exactly how these movements open or close the path for electrons.

A drop of blood is a bustling city in miniature. Thousands of different molecules scurry through it, each leaving its own trace. But peering directly into this city is hard: the streets are tangled, and there are so many inhabitants that counting them all individually is out of the question. Scientists have found a way to listen to the whole city at once, without singling out its residents.