The neutrino is one of nature’s most elusive constituents, yet this tiny, neutral particle may be the key to unlocking some of the universe’s oldest secrets. With hopes of learning more about the neutrino, members of the nEXO collaboration are on a quest to detect a process called… Continue reading »
Over the last few decades, scientists have found thousands of planets beyond our own. Some of those planets might be habitable, and perhaps even inhabited already; but how can we tell? Clara Sousa-Silva investigates how molecules interact with light so that they can be detected on faraway worlds, in particular those… Continue reading »
The dynamical and chemical signatures of a planetary system are independent fossil records of its past. Orbital parameters are vestiges of its formation and dynamical evolution, while chemical compositions of planets and hosts are fingerprints of the stellar nursery and the protoplanetary disk where they formed. In this talk, I… Continue reading »
Continuing to keep pace with the demands of Moore’s Law (where the number of transistors on a computer chip must double at an approximately a yearly cadence), the current era of semiconductor fabrication has entered the regime where the smallest transistor feature is on the order of single… Continue reading »
In 1964, John Bell published a theorem that effectively turned a metaphysical question into a physical question. He showed that no local model of reality satisfying certain common-sense conditions could possibly account for the predictions of quantum theory. The winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in physics—John Clauser,… Continue reading »
(POSTPONED from 11/4/22; new date 4/14/23) Soft materials, such as polymer gels, have long been realized as a potential platform for actuation; however, several challenges have limited their integration into translatable technologies. In particular, soft matter actuators are slow, unable to generate significant power, and typically require external intervention to… Continue reading »
“M dwarfs, stars with masses 10% < solar mass < 60%, are under increasing scrutiny because these stars afford the most accessible near-future opportunity to study the atmospheres of terrestrial planets. Our knowledge of these precious planets depends critically upon understanding their faint host stars. I will discuss our volume-complete,… Continue reading »
Robots today remain hidden in factories, welding car parts and placing microchips. I envision a future where robots assist in our homes, hospitals, and nursing facilities. These human-centric domains involve a wide range of tasks, demanding robots with an unprecedented blend of traits. For example, the ideal nursing home robot… Continue reading »
RNA is a fundamental biomolecule present in all living organisms. Its fate in a cell is determined by its physical interactions with various proteins. It is thus important to understand which protein binds which RNA how strongly. One major complication in predicting binding affinity of a protein to an RNA… Continue reading »
Organic semiconductors offer the promise of solution processible, flexible electronics, but the charge transport in these disordered films is not fully understood. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) brings a nanoscale tip close to or in contact with the surface of a sample and is best known for measuring the topography of… Continue reading »
2021-2022 Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series Unless otherwise noted, all talks take place at 2:35 p.m. in Thompson Physical Laboratory 205. Sept. 17 Physics and Astronomy Beyond Williams: Careers and Grad School Oct. 15 Kevin Forkey and Brough Morris Title: “Old and New Offerings from the Cave of Wonders… Continue reading »
As astronomers near the commissioning of the extremely large telescopes, the Rubin Observatory, as well as new space-based observatories like the Roman Space Telescope and JWST to peer more deeply into our Universe, our community is challenged to develop a theoretical and modeling framework to characterize and study what will… Continue reading »
A Science + Society Double Header! On Thursday, 4/28 at 4pm in TPL 203: “Towards an inclusive environment for LGBT+ Scientists” In this talk, I’ll present the results of a recently published study – the first ever to focus on physics – highlighting how subgroups of the LGBT+ community experience… Continue reading »
Supermassive black holes, and the active galactic nuclei (AGN) that they power, are thought to play an integral role in the evolution of galaxies by acting to regulate, and eventually suppress, the star formation activity of their host galaxies. I will discuss recent efforts to test this proposed connection by studying the demographics of galaxies experiencing active black… Continue reading »
The Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment was originally put forward as a demonstration reductio ad absurdum that quantum theory had a problem. Surely a cat cannot exist in superposition state of being both alive and dead until a concerned pet owner checks in on its status. And yet, unitary evolution… Continue reading »
In the cleaning of works of art, conservators rely on an array of cleaning materials, all with different physical properties best suited to specific applications. One class of cleaning materials are gels, which have been found to be useful for cleaning a wide-range of surfaces in cases where using free-flowing… Continue reading »
An equation of state is something you hear about in introductory thermodynamics, for example, the Ideal gas equation. The ideal gas equation relates the pressure, volume, and the number of particles of the gas, to its temperature, uniquely defining its state. Such a description is possible in physics when the… Continue reading »
Professor Gabrielse’s group probes the predictions, symmetries and proposed extensions to the standard model with exquisite sensitivity, using small-scale apparatus and methods that derive sensitivity from precision rather than energy. His electron and positron magnetic moment measurements with a single trapped particle (the most accurate measurments of propertes of elementary… Continue reading »
Abstract Physics degree holders are highly employable in both the private and public sectors. However, students and early career scientists are often unaware of the types of career paths available to them. This talk will provide data on the number of physics degree holders and where they typically find… Continue reading »
In this talk I review the phenomenological picture of tunneling defects in low-temperature glasses. Despite the successes of this model, it has been very difficult to verify its microscopic foundations. Leveraging the power of a novel Monte Carlo method, we have prepared in silico glasses annealed in a manner that corresponds… Continue reading »
Measurement of the faintest signals has become a vital part of disciplines as diverse as medicine, astronomy, interplanetary communications and intelligence gathering. While our curiosity has drive us to probe ever-weaker signals in Nature, the framework and philosophy for our measurement tools has remained largely unchanged for centuries, entrenched in… Continue reading »
Douglas Onyango is Staff Technical Program Manager at Rivian. He is responsible for overseeing battery manufacturing engineering projects from concept to factory launch. Before Rivian, Douglas was a Manufacturing Engineer at Tesla where he deployed pioneering custom automation manufacturing equipment for Tesla Model 3 batteries. He holds a BA in… Continue reading »
Abstract: Quantum mechanics is famously ‘weird,’ which was noted by both Einstein and Feynman, and which can cause both dread and delight in aspiring physicists. But what exactly is the source of the weirdness? In this talk, I will give an overview of contextuality, which is an obstacle to classical,… Continue reading »
25 Sept. Physics and Astronomy beyond Williams: Careers and Grad School 2 Oct. A Modular Quantum Computer with Trapped Ions and Single Photons: Allison Carter ’16, University of Maryland 16 Oct. Atomic Doctors, James Nolan, Williams College 23 Oct. Duane Bailey, Professor of Computer Science/Sigma Xi… Continue reading »
In every field of science, the possibility of discovering and understanding new phenomena, or testing new hypotheses, is strongly related to and limited by the capability of observation. Here, we will discuss recent advances in experimental boiling heat transfer research made possible by unique experimental facilities and non-intrusive high-resolution optical… Continue reading »
I will discuss how trapped-ion crystals can be used to simulate models of quantum magnetism and describe in more detail experiments with single-plane crystals of hundreds of trapped ions. Benchmarking quantum dynamics is a challenge as the number of trapped ions grows. To benchmark quantum dynamics, we measure the evolution… Continue reading »
This general-audience talk will present the science of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioTtech vaccines and of messages in translation. Continue reading »
Historically, our understanding of planet formation and the origins of planets’ compositions has been largely informed by our Solar System. However, we are just one system, and now with facilities like NASA’s Kepler and TESS telescopes, we are discovering a wide variety of planet types and architectures, many of which… Continue reading »
The present-day population of supermassive black holes in low-mass galaxies offers a window into massive black hole formation in the early universe. While we cannot yet observe the formation of “black hole seeds” at high redshift, the fraction of small galaxies that host a supermassive black hole — and the… Continue reading »
More than 80% of matter in the universe is dark: it doesn’t interact with light, and it’s not made of any of the known elementary particles. What could this dark matter be? Looking at the known particles, also known as the Standard Model, we see many different forces (strong, weak,… Continue reading »
The formation of galaxies like our Milky Way began soon after the Big Bang, as pristine gas poured into clumps of dark matter to form the first groups of stars. However, the lives and deaths of these stars soon made galaxy growth much more complex. Through their intense ultraviolet radiation,… Continue reading »
Reactions between ions and radical molecules play an important role in the chemistry that drives dynamics in the interstellar medium and during combustion of hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, experimental measurements of these reactions are very challenging, and thus very rare. We use tools borrowed from the cold atom community to measure… Continue reading »
Over the last century, quantum has grown from quantum mechanics, with explanatory power, to quantum engineering which has ushered in a wave of new commercial technology. Just as computers have become an integral part of the scientific tool set, quantum computation is likely to become equally impactful in… Continue reading »
We take a fresh, broad look at the symbiotic relationship between software and its enabler, hardware. After decades of development of general purpose machines, we find ourselves on the cusp of a new era — what computer architects John Hennessy and David Patterson call “a new golden age” for computation… Continue reading »
Quantum computing promises to revolutionize how we compute, but current devices are limited by noisy qubits. In this talk, I will first discuss the difference between standard computers and quantum computers. I will then explain how the rules of quantum mechanics makes error correction more difficult than in the classical… Continue reading »
Quantum computers, which take advantage of the strange quantum properties of superposition and entanglement, can theoretically solve certain problems exponentially faster than classical computers. Current systems, however, are orders of magnitude smaller than what would be needed for the most interesting applications, and all leading platforms have challenges… Continue reading »
2019-2020 Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series Unless otherwise noted, all talks take place at 2:30 p.m. in Thompson Physical Laboratory 205. 6 Sept. Field Day 13 Sept. Don Fahey, Joint Quantum Institute Title: “Squeezing the Spin in a Bose-Einstein Condensate“ 20 Sept. David Poland, Yale Title: “Critical… Continue reading »
The region around the center of the Milky Way contains a well-measured glow of gamma rays, which has garnered great interest as a possible signal of either dark matter particles colliding and annihilating each other, or a previously undiscovered population of pulsars in the stellar bulge. Analyses of the photon… Continue reading »
The Earth is composed of a rocky mantle with a metallic iron-rich core at its center. The segregation of the metallic core from the mantle was a formative event in the planet’s history. The mantle’s composition indicates that chemical interactions between Fe-rich metal and molten silicate rocks played an important… Continue reading »
Here is an opportunity to hear about how a physics degree can help prepare one for a career (gasp) outside of academia. We’ll talk about how a background in liberal arts can additionally serve you well for the many challenges today’s work environment can provide. Also, we’ll discuss the dangers… Continue reading »
Polar materials play a large role in the electronics industry, but many of the leading materials rely on the chemistry of lead for enhanced performance. Several types of materials have been explored in an effort to find lead-free alternatives for use in electronic devices, but there are still many challenges… Continue reading »
By taking ordinary materials and rearranging them into complex shapes on the same scale as the wavelength of light, it is well known that one can drastically enhance the interactions between light and matter, from resonant absorption to spontaneous emission to surface-enhanced Raman scattering. In this talk, we… Continue reading »
Hawking showed in 1974 that, once quantum mechanics is taken into consideration, black holes emit a blackbody spectrum of particles. This leads to the celebrated information paradox, which has evaded a completely satisfactory explanation to date. This topic involves a confluence of a lot of rich concepts in physics: general relativity (horizons… Continue reading »
Buildings are responsible for roughly 40% of U.S. primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. Reducing energy use in buildings is a necessary component of any plan to address climate change. Green building certification programs are being promoted as a pathway to lower building energy use. The U.S. Green Building… Continue reading »
Membranes are essential for the existence of life as we know it because they define a barrier between the inside and outside of an organism. However, cells also need to exchange nutrients, chemicals and information with the environment, which they achieve with the help of proteins embedded into the membrane… Continue reading »
There is evidence of circumstellar (CS) material around main sequence (MS), giant, and white dwarf (WD) stars that originates from the small-body population of planetary systems. How (if at all) are the planetesimals around MS and WD stars related? One way to address this question is to begin at the… Continue reading »
Solar eruptions are the largest explosions in the solar system. They frequently (once per day as a rough average) eject coronal mass ejections (CMEs) into the heliosphere. Some CMEs are capable of damaging satellites in Earth orbit, and are potentially a danger to astronauts traveling beyond the Earth’s protective magnetic… Continue reading »
Coronal holes, like the one at the center of this September 25, 2019 Fe XII 193 A image, are regions where the magnetic fields are open to interplanetary space. They are the source of high speed solar wind streams that sweep past Earth, inducing geomagnetic activity and auroras. I will… Continue reading »
Bose-Einstein condensates possessing a spin degree of freedom that can evolve freely serve both as a testbed for many-body entanglement and for extending our understanding of out-of-equilibrium dynamics in degenerate gases. Well isolated from the environment in an optical dipole trap, collisions are the dominant mechanism for thermalization and pre-thermalization… Continue reading »
From critical phenomena to quantum gravity, conformal field theories describe the universal scale-invariant structures that lie at the heart of theoretical physics. The conformal bootstrap is the powerful idea, dating back to the 70’s, that one can use fundamental consistency conditions to constrain, solve, and map out the… Continue reading »
The stereotypes of most science, technology, engineering, and math fields is that “STEM is for men.” Additionally, men are over-represented at almost every level of STEM participation, both inside and outside of academia. Together, this gender imbalance in scientific environments and the gendered nature of science stereotypes signal to women… Continue reading »
The retreat of Arctic sea ice is one of the most dramatic signals of recent climate change in the observational record. It involves an amplifying factor associated with changes in the surface albedo (i.e., reflectiveness) called the ice-albedo feedback. If the ice-albedo feedback becomes dominant in the Arctic as the… Continue reading »
Integration of quantum optical devices with other quantum technologies onto a compact and scalable platform is critical for widespread applications of quantum information science. An integrated quantum optoelectronic circuit would bring these technologies together on a single chip and enable mass-producible, robust, and low cost devices for “real world” applications. Continue reading »
Unlike the Sun, the vast majority of the nearest stars are known as M-dwarf stars: small, dim, red stars that make up over 70% of the stars in our galaxy. Given their great abundance and the relative ease of detecting their planets, M-dwarfs form ideal targets for large upcoming exoplanet… Continue reading »
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, and play a key role in diseases as different as osteoarthritis and cancer metastasis. In this talk, I will discuss the mechanical structure… Continue reading »
Meandering river channels evolve as a result of fluid mechanic and sedimentary processes. Their evolution can be described by differential equations that dictate how channel curvature gives rise to local perturbations in fluid velocity, prompting preferential erosion and sediment deposition–which is exactly the process of meandering. Here we extend standard… Continue reading »
Time resolved spectroscopy aims to follow molecular dynamics in real time and make ‘molecular movies’, with the aim of understanding fundamental processes in nature, such as photosynthesis, vision, and the photoprotection of DNA. I will describe a series of experiments which follow the flow of energy and changing structure of… Continue reading »
Can a material be made of light? To answer this, we first ask what is necessary for a material to form, and then how to go about engineering each of these properties for photons. We trap photons inside of a curved-mirror optical resonator, which harmonically traps the transverse motion of… Continue reading »
Proteins and DNA constantly interact with one another and are inextricably linked by both the central dogma of molecular biology and the critical need for maintenance and faithful transfer of genomic information from mother to daughter cells. However, many important protein-DNA interactions are transient and dynamic, which makes them particularly… Continue reading »
Light has momentum. But over a century after the experimental confirmation of radiation pressure, and on the heels of Ashkin’s Nobel Prize for exploiting this effect in optical tweezers, we may still not have a detailed understanding of how it works. How, exactly, does a simple metal feel radiation pressure?… Continue reading »
The cell is a complex autonomous machine taking in information, performing computations, and responding to the environment. Many of the internal structures and architecture is transient and created through active processes. Recent advances in active matter physics with biological elements are opening new insights into the physics behind how cellular… Continue reading »
Contextuality and nonlocality are two fundamental but surprising properties of nature. Some years ago, Lucien Hardy provided a proof of nonlocality that is widely considered the simplest such proof. After first explaining the meanings of the terms “contextuality” and “nonlocality,” I show in this talk that there is a simple,… Continue reading »
Living cells generate and transmit mechanical forces over diverse time-scales and length-scales to determine the dynamics of cell and tissue shape during both homeostatic and pathological processes, from early embryonic development to cancer metastasis. These forces arise from the cell cytoskeleton, a scaffolding network of entangled protein polymers driven out-of-equilibrium by… Continue reading »
Modern digital software tools of CAD (computer-aided design), CAE (computer-aided engineering analysis), and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) are transforming the scientific and technical world. The emergence of new hardware such as 3D extrusion and photo-polymerization printers, multi-axis Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) mills and lathes, and high-power laser cutters are giving scientists… Continue reading »
In this talk I discuss the origins of stellar spectroscopy in the 19thcentury. The story starts with Joseph Fraunhofer in 1814, who was the first person to describe the line spectra of bright stars. Surprisingly forty years followed before any major studies of stellar spectra were undertaken after Fraunhofer. The… Continue reading »
We present an experimental system of networks of coupled non-linear nanoliter-scale chemical reactors containing the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, which we theoretically model within a reaction-diffusion framework. Microfluidic fabrication techniques are developed that provide the ability to vary the network topology, the reactor coupling strength and offer the freedom to choose whether an… Continue reading »
A quantum computer, constructed with quantum bits, or qubits, would have capabilities beyond what is possible for conventional, classical computers. Trapped ions are a promising platform for this type of system and the path forward involves designing traps that can be micro-fabricated and customized. While traps are becoming more complex,… Continue reading »
The quantum information revolution has taught us that quantum mechanics is not a paler version of its classical counterpart, hindered by intrinsic uncertainty and random measurement outcomes. Au contraire! A machine whose operation takes full advantage of the laws of quantum mechanics has information processing capabilities well beyond those that… Continue reading »
Complex fluids are everywhere: they include suspensions, emulsions, dispersions, and foams. A few examples in daily life include cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, cleaning supplies, and most biological materials. A common theme among these everyday materials: characteristics and dynamic properties on the macroscopic scale arise from microstructure and… Continue reading »
Over the half-century since its discovery, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) has been a cosmological goldmine, yielding measurements of the properties of the early universe that are unrivaled in both precision and accuracy. The Simons Observatory is a new cosmic microwave background experiment being built on Cerro Toco in Chile,… Continue reading »
The field of condensed matter physics studies how systems containing many electrons and atoms organize into phases of matter. Familiar phases of matter, such as liquids and solids, can be identified by looking at a local region of the system and determining what symmetries the system has. For instance, a… Continue reading »
Have you ever been at a noisy party and still been able to pick out what the person in front of you is saying? If so, then you are intimately aware of the fact that your brain is able to solve the cocktail party problem. How does your brain separate one… Continue reading »
Atoms are an incredibly versitile tool for both studies of fundamental physics and for the development of sensitive sensors. In this talk, I will discuss two experiments with very different end goals, but which are both based on very similar experimental techniques. First, I will discuss progress in the construction… Continue reading »
The dark matter holding together galaxies and the dark energy driving today’s cosmic acceleration are persistent mysteries. In contrast to the prevailing paradigm, I will examine the possibility that dark matter is composed of a hypothetical ultra-light particle, called an axion. I’ll begin by summarizing the particle physics that first… Continue reading »
Venus is the “exoplanet next door,” a key to understanding whether “Earth-sized” means “Earth-like” elsewhere in the Universe. Recent evidence of possibly current volcanism, and the suggestion of nascent plate tectonics on its surface, have raised questions about the geological evolution of its surface that wait to be answered by… Continue reading »
Interfacial fluid flows like splashing raindrops and rising bubbles are familiar from everyday life, but also relevant to many processes in the environment and industry. The bursting of bubbles entrained by breaking waves in the oceans ejects jets of aerosol droplets that affect cloud formation and climate, and can also… Continue reading »
Biological aggregations such as bird flocks, fish schools, and insect swarms are striking examples of collective motion, and serve as the inspiration for algorithms in robotics, computer science, applied mathematics, and other fields. Aggregations give rise to massive amounts of data, for instance, the position and velocity of each group… Continue reading »
To understand the mechanism underlying the function and dynamics of the nervous system, it is essential to develop the techniques capable of modulating and recording a diversity of signals employed by neurons. However, current approaches are limited in terms of effectiveness, side effects, or mechanical invasiveness due to its bulky… Continue reading »
Over the past few years, quantum computers have captivated the popular imagination like never before, as tech giants such as Google, IBM, and Intel race to stake their claim on the first generation of programmable quantum computing hardware. However, while the long theorized quantum computer has indeed begun its transition… Continue reading »
In this talk, I explain where the different groups of threatening objects come from, tracing their story back to the formation of the Solar system. I describe the threat such objects pose to the Earth, and the other planets in the Solar system, before considering what, if anything, we can do… Continue reading »
Quantum information has the potential to revolutionize both communication and computation by utilizing the features of quantum physics to store, process, and transmit information (quantum bits). Trapped atomic ions are one of the leading candidates for applications in quantum information, due to their long storage times… Continue reading »
The 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson during Run I of the Large Hadron Collider was a triumph for particle physics, validating the theory of the weak force and completing the Standard Model framework. Yet, for all the Standard Model can explain, there is much we don’t know about the… Continue reading »
“With the rise of new vehicle technologies, the rapid growth of major urban centers across the globe, and critical environmental concerns, innovative approaches are required to analyze the impacts on our transportation systems and quality of life. Gathering the most current land-use, economic, mobility, development and behavioral data for 330… Continue reading »
EuO1-x is a material of interest for its possible spintronics applications. It exhibits a semiconductor-to-metal transition associated with the onset of ferromagnetism and a large negative magnetoresistance response. Because the transport and magnetic properties of EuO1-x are similar to another class of materials, the perovskite manganites, and phase inhomogeneity is… Continue reading »
When you stretch a piece of rubber, elasticity makes it spring back to its original shape. When you disturb a drop of water, on the other hand, it’s surface tension that makes it round again. Solids have surface tension too, but usually it’s so weak compared to elastic effects that… Continue reading »
Hydrogen atom migration in molecules can result in major structural changes, altering the molecule’s chemical properties. Using ‘ultrafast’ lasers and sophisticated ion imaging techniques, we explore the timescales for hydrogen migration reactions. We study acetylene, a small hydrocarbon, where a hydrogen can migrate to form its vinylidene isomer. We have… Continue reading »
Of the thousands of known extrasolar planets, why are the dozen or so directly imaged exoplanets among the most important despite their apparently anomalous properties within the general exoplanet population (>10 astronomical units, >2x the mass of Jupiter)? What are the prospects for (and recent successes in) detecting younger, lower-mass… Continue reading »
Quantum information processors hold great promise for investigating classically intractable computations, with applications in fields such as quantum simulation, optimization and many others. Trapped atomic ions are leading candidates to serve as the fundamental quantum bits (qubits) in such quantum processors, due to the high-fidelity operations with which their internal… Continue reading »
Exoplanet is the current frontier of astronomy and planetary sciences. In this talk, I will present the evidence of abundant ocean planets and water worlds among exoplanets in our galaxy. Ocean planets are planets similar to our own Earth, on which water covers a significant surface area. Water worlds are… Continue reading »
The role of engineering in addressing some of humanity’s most pressing problems is critical. This talk will focus on a specific problem and technological solution — indoor air pollution from cooking in developing countries — and also discuss the educational activities the speaker is developing at Wellesley College to engage… Continue reading »
Quantum information science studies the implications of quantum mechanics for information processing, communication and computation. Besides being one of the most thriving areas of contemporary research, quantum information science carries an unprecedented transformative potential for 21st century quantum technologies, while providing new tools and perspectives across a wide range of… Continue reading »
Leaving the Earth’s atmosphere was once thought of as entering “empty space”, implying a benign environment other than the absence of an atmosphere. The truth turns out to be entirely different, space being filled with high energy particles and radiation, much of it coming from the Sun, while our safety… Continue reading »
The biological sciences have been/are being revolutionized by high-throughput, quantative measurement technologies. RNA sequencing is a poster-child example. RNAseq data is now widely used for analysis of gene expression, and is widely viewed as simple and quantitatively accurate. “You just count reads. What could go wrong?” A closer look at… Continue reading »
Quantum theory is the great foundation for nearly all of modern physics. Since its discovery in 1925, it has never met a single experimental failure, and without it we could kiss our technological society goodbye. Without quantum theory, there would be no transistors, no lasers, no smart phones — we… Continue reading »
Inside living cells, the inherent probabilistic nature of biochemical processes drives random fluctuations (noise) in the levels of biomolecules, such as RNAs and proteins. Modeling stochastic fluctuations in biomolecule levels is essential to understand how noise affects biological function and phenotype. I will introduce state-of-the-art computational tools for stochastic modeling,… Continue reading »
Some of Nature’s most beautiful phenomena can be seen in the development of an embryo, from a single cell to a complete organism. In fruit flies, this takes just one day. More surprisingly, one can read a blueprint for the body plan of the fully developed organism by measuring the… Continue reading »
Sitting in a quiet room, we can hear sounds that cause our eardrums to vibrate by less than the diameter of an atom. When bacteria have to decide if they are swimming in the right direction to find more food, they count every single molecule that arrives at their surface. Continue reading »
Less than a generation ago, we wondered, as we had for millions of years before, whether there were any other planetary systems at all. Now, we are privileged to be in the first generation of humans to know that many of the points of light dusting our… Continue reading »
Despite the many similarities between nanocrystals and atoms, it has remained unclear since the early 1990s why optical transitions in nanocrystals are so much broader than those of atoms. The spectral line width of an ensemble of nanocrystals arises from size and shape inhomogeneity and the single-nanocrystal spectrum itself. This… Continue reading »
Albert Einstein once dubbed quantum entanglement “spooky actions at a distance,” and the concept remains one of the starkest examples of how quantum theory differs from our usual intutions about space, time, and matter. Physicists have tested quantum entanglement in laboratories for more than forty years, and have always found… Continue reading »
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