Enzymes are the workhorses of biology. Without them, the chemical reactions that make each organism tick would proceed at a snail’s pace. Yet despite their crucial function, many secrets of how they work are still emerging, and now a computer simulation suggests they may have a hitherto unknown way of gathering energy that can then be used to help speed a reaction on its way.
Enzymes usually acquire the energy needed to catalyse a reaction between two substrates by splitting energy-rich molecules such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). However, physicist Brice Jaunico of the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France, and…
