- Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
October 25, 2024 3:30 PM -
October 25, 2024 4:30 PM
PAIS 1100
- Host:
- Tonmoy Chakraborty
- Presenter:
- Dr. Douglas Shepherd (ASU)
- Video Recording
One governing principle of the microscopic world is "predictable randomness," where snapshots of a fluctuating process may appear random, but the average outcome of the process is predictable. An exciting frontier in biological physics is evaluating if predictable randomness extends to more complex, multi-component biophysical systems, such as microswimmer propulsion or genetic regulation. Taking a statistical physics approach to these complex systems may lead to the discovery of predictive models and new insights into how the rules of life interplay with the laws of physics. In this talk, I will present some of our recent advancements in studying complex biophysical phenomena, such as the first direct measurement of the propulsion efficiency of bacterial molecular propellers, using a toolkit of newly developed optical, computational, and theoretical approaches.