11th December 2012, 5.30pm-8.30pm Phillips Room, Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT
Active systems, from cells and bacteria to flocks of birds, create their own energy that they use to move and to control the complex processes needed for life. A goal of biophysicists is to construct the new theories needed to understand these living systems, which operate far from equilibrium. To this end we are asking questions like: How do biomolecules find their way across crowded cells? How do birds, bacteria and cells self-organise into similar patterns? Do tiny marine creatures stir the ocean?
Julia Yeomans is Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Pauline Chan Fellow, St. Hilda’s College. She is interested in the applications of statistical physics to soft and biological matter.