Northwestern Events Calendar
Jan
23
2026

Colloquium: Andrea Liu: "Turntable Matter"

CANCELLED

When: Friday, January 23, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CT

Where: Technological Institute, L211, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Joan West   (847) 491-3645
joan.west@northwestern.edu

Group: Physics and Astronomy Colloquia

Category: Academic

Description:

In 1972 Phil Andersen articulated the motto of condensed matter physics as “More is different.” However, for most condensed matter systems, the behavior of many more constituents is quite similar to that of more. Here I argue for a class of condensed matter, “tunable matter," in which many more is more different—the behaviors of more and of many more can be quite different. A familiar example of tunable matter is the brain, whose cognitive capabilities increase as size increases from 302 neurons (C. Elegans) to a million neurons (honeybees) to 100 billion neurons (humans). I propose that tunable matter provides a unifying conceptual framework for understanding emergent collective function in a wide class of biological systems, and motivates new non-biological systems capable of being trained to develop desired complex collective behaviors without using a processor. 

Andrea Liu, Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Host: Michelle 

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