Fast, Furious and Frugal: Soft matter principles in ultrafast organismal biophysics and low-cost science tools.

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Speaker(s): Saad Bhamla

In this talk, I will share two stories. The first documents our journey into the world of extreme single cells that exhibit ultrafast contractions. Using the lens of soft matter physics, we will discover how these extraordinary cells leverage these rapid contractions to transmit signals over long distances in a phenomena we term ‘hydrodynamic communication’. The second explores development of low-cost tools for science education and global health. Guided by our ‘frugal science’ philosophy, I will share how we harness unusual materials and their physics to build centrifuges, electroporators and hearing aids that all cost less than a cup of coffee.

Colloquium

Junior and senior physics majors attend our biweekly colloquium series, held on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. in Shanahan B460. The talks are open to all students and to the public, and are frequently attended by scientists from the other Claremont Colleges, Cal Poly Pomona, and others. The series features speakers from a broad range of institutions and fields of physics.