The Physics of Purposeful Biological Dynamics

  • Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

January 31, 2025 3:30 PM - January 31, 2025 4:30 PM
PAIS 1100

Host:
Mousumi Roy
Presenter:
Dr. Rob Phillips (Caltech)
Video recording
Time and again since the era of Newton, physics has come forth with new classes of dynamical laws ranging from Fourier’s mastery of the heat equation to Maxwell’s theory of the electromagnetic field to Turing’s ideas on pattern formation and many others.  However, there are a large class of dynamical processes in living organisms that are of a completely different kind. In particular, they are exploratory in nature, often largely independent of iinitial conditions, and driven by a functional purpose.  For example, before our cells divide, precisely 46 connections have to be made between the machinery that separates chromosomes and the chromosomes themselves.  Not 45, not 47. One connection for every one of our 23 pairs of chromosomes.   In this talk, I will describe the hypothesis of exploratory dynamics as biology’s unique and necessary solution to problems in purposeful dynamics.  After introducing the conceptual questions and  corresponding phenomenological observations, I will describe both theoretical approaches to thinking about exploratory dynamics and experiments designed to reveal its many quantitative mysteries.  

Upcoming Events

MIGDAL Optical TPC: Fitting Observations to Simulation
Dustin Edgeman (UNM)
Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
May. 6, 2:00 PM
PAIS 3205

Development of next generation readout for Cosmic Microwave Background instruments
Wilber Dominguez (UNM)
CART Astrophysics Seminar Series
May. 8, 2:00 PM
PAIS 3205

No Colloquium on May 9
TBD
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
May. 9, 3:30 PM - May. 9, 4:30 PM
PAIS 1100

Measuring Cosmic Sound with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
Daniel Eisenstein (Harvard)
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
May. 16, 3:30 PM - May. 16, 4:30 PM
PAIS 1100

Department Convocation

Special Talk
May. 17, 12:00 PM - May. 17, 1:30 PM
PAIS 1100 and Lobby