Hungry yeast are tiny, living thermometers

Membranes are crucial to our cells. Every cell in your body is enclosed by one. And each of those cells contains specialized compartments, or organelles, which are also enclosed by membranes. Membranes help cells carry out tasks like breaking down food for energy, building and dismantling proteins, keeping track of environmental conditions, sending signals and deciding when to divide. Biologists have long struggled to understand precisely how membranes accomplish these different types of jobs. The primary components of membranes - large, fat-like molecules called lipids and compact molecules like cholesterol - make great barriers. In all but a few cases, it-s unclear how those molecules help proteins within membranes do their jobs.