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Measurements of the capillary length in phase-separated solutions of polymethylmethacrylate in 3-octanone (PMMA/3-OCT) for each of five different molecular weights of PMMA, and in phase-separated solutions of polystyrene in methylcyclohexane (PS/MCH) for a single molecular weight of polymer, are reported. Measurements on PMMA/3-OCT were by the sessile-drop method; those on PS/MCH were by both the sessile-drop and capillary-rise methods. Interfacial tensions are estimated from estimated density differences and the measured capillary lengths. A theoretically predicted scaling law for the dependence of capillary length on polymer molecular weight and temperature is tested and at least semiquantitatively verified. As by-products of the sample preparation, the molecular-weight dependences of the critical composition and critical solution temperature of PMMA/3-OCT were also determined. The volume fraction of polymer at the critical point, φc, is found to be proportional to the −0.37±0.01 power of the molecular weight, in agreement with values of this exponent found by others for polystyrene solutions.

In cell culture, when cells are inoculated into fresh media, there can be a period of slow (or lag phase) growth followed by a transition to exponential growth. This period of slow growth is usually attributed to the cells' adaptation to a new environment. However, we argue that, based on observations of shaken suspension culture of Dictyostelium discoideum, a model single-cell eukaryote, this transition is due to a density effect. Attempts to demonstrate the existence of implicit cell signaling via long-range diffusible messengers (i.e., soluble growth factors) through cell-medium separation and microfluidic flow perturbation experiments produced negative results. This, in turn, led to the development of a signaling model based on direct cell-to-cell contacts. Employing a scaling argument for the collision rate due to fluid shear, we reasonably estimate the crossover density for the transition into the exponential phase and fit the observed growth kinetics.

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