Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Materials that learn from examples"
Arvind Murugan (University of Chicago)
We usually design materials to target desired behaviors that are defined in a top-down manner. Learning theory offers an alternative when desired behaviors are hard to define but easy to give examples of…
Astronomy seminar; "Cosmology in the multi-messenger era"
Macarena Lagos (University of Chicago)
We have great certainty on how gravity works around our Solar System, but on large scales we still have a considerable lack of understanding about the constituents of our universe. Furthermore…
Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "A touch of non-linearity: mesoscale swimmers and active matter in fluids"
Daphne Klotsa (University of North Carolina)
Living matter, such as biological tissue, can be seen as a nonequilibrium hierarchical assembly of assemblies of smaller and smaller active components, where energy is consumed at many scales. The…
Astronomy seminar: "The Formation of Massive Galaxies: deep, high-redshift spectroscopy from the LEGA-C Survey and Beyond"
Rachel Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh)
Today’s massive elliptical galaxies are primarily red-and-dead, dispersion supported ellipticals. The physical process(es) driving the shutdown or “quenching” of star formation in these…
High Energy Theory seminar: "Black Holes to Algebraic Curves: Mathematical Consequences of the Weak Gravity Conjecture"
Tom Rudelius (Institute for Advanced Study)
The Weak Gravity Conjecture holds that in any consistent theory of quantum gravity, gravity must be the weakest force. This simple proposition has surprisingly nontrivial consequences for physics, which…
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Dynamics of living flows"
Eleni Katifori (University of Pennsylvania)
Complex life larger than a humble nematode would not be possible without a circulatory system. Plants, fungi, and animals have developed vascular systems of striking complexity to solve problems of long…
Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Collective behavior underlying the mechanobiology of tissues"
Moumita Das (Rochester Institute of Technology)
Living cells and tissues are highly mechanically sensitive and active. Mechanical forces and stimuli influence the shape, motility, and functions of cells, modulate the behavior of tissues,…
Astronomy seminar: "Evidence for CII diffuse line emission at redshift z~2.6"
Shengqi Yang (New York University)
CII is one of the brightest emission lines from star-forming galaxies and is an excellent tracer for star formation. Recent work measured the CII emission line amplitude for redshifts 2<z<3.2…