Active systems, from cells and bacteria to flocks of birds, harvest chemical energy which they use to move and to control the complex processes needed for life.
Topology in Biology - Prof Julia Yeomans FRS
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A goal of biophysicists is to construct new physical theories to understand these living systems, which operate far from equilibrium. Topological defects are key to the behaviour of certain dense active systems and, surprisingly, there is increasing evidence that they may play a role in the biological functioning of bacterial and epithelial cells.
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Learn about quantum mechanics, black holes, dark matter, plasma, particle accelerators, the Large Hadron Collider and other key Theoretical Physics topics. The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics holds morning sessions consisting of three talks, pitched to explain an area of our research to an audience familiar with physics at about second-year undergraduate level.