First heat map for individual red blood cells

Researchers measure heat flow: from active metabolic forces inside cell to flickering cell membrane. AI generated image to show red blood cell undergoing 'entropy production' (heat flow) Photo: Image generated using AI by Complutense University of Madrid - Entropy is often associated with disorder and chaos, but in biology it is related to energy efficiency and is closely linked to metabolism, the set of chemical reactions that sustain life. This research was led by the Universities of Barcelona and Padua, with the participation of Göttingen University and the Universities Complutense and Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid. This international research team has developed a novel methodology for the measurement of entropy production at the scale of a nanometer, meaning one-billionth of a meter. The new approach enabled the scientists to measure the heat flow, known as the entropy production rate, of single red blood cells. The research was published in Science. Researchers used a new way to measure the heat flow from the active metabolic forces inside the red blood cells by quantifying the increasing entropy by simply observing the continuous and erratic fluctuations of the red blood cell membrane.