Event
Condensed Matter Seminar: "Wisdom of hives and mounds: collective problem solving by super-organisms"
Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan (Harvard University)
Social insects are capable of solving complex physiological problems using collective strategies. I will discuss our work on some of these problems that include the physiology and morphogenesis of termite mounds, and active mechanisms for ventilation, mechanical adaptation and thermoregulation in bee aggregates.