Description:

Life is full of hydrated interfaces that all have to obey physical principles. If we “inject” momentum conservation and thermodynamics into these interfaces what do we find?  

i)    Physical states (e.g. phase transitions) are identified as biological function, such as transport and enzymatic activity. 

ii)   (Nonlinear) Pulses propagate along such interfaces and can communicate and integrate local properties. Their nonlinear nature allows for interactions between them.  These principles also provide a physical foundation of specificity and open the door to the question of “What is health?” from a physical perspective. 

Matthias Schneider, Professor, Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany

Host Petra Vlahovska, Professor, Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics