Plant mimicry,
black holes, and remote-controlled worms are some of the topics to be
presented at three live webcasts of news briefings at the 2013 American
Physical Society (APS) March Meeting in Baltimore, Md. The three
45-minute webcasts will take place this Thursday, March 21. To register and for more information on the panelists, see below.
What: Media Webcasts on New Research at the APS March Meeting
When: Thursday, March 21, 2013
• 9 a.m. EST - PHYSICS OF NATURE: PLANT MIMICRY AND THE MYSTERY OF THE CRACKLING TREES
• 11 a.m. EST - CREEPY CRAWLIES: FROM REMOTE-CONTROLLED WORMS TO SYNTHETIC CILIA
• 1 p.m. EST - QUANTUM ISSUES: BLACK HOLES, THE REALITY OF THE WAVEFUNCTION, AND WHY SPACE IS 3-D
Registration: To register, please visit http://apswebcasting.com/
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List of Panelists:
Thursday, March 21, 9:00 a.m. EST
PHYSICS OF NATURE: PLANT MIMICRY AND THE MYSTERY OF THE CRACKLING TREES
Panelists:
•
Zi Chen, Washington University in St. Louis, will discuss the
mechanics of the Venus flytrap's fast motion and bio-inspired robots
whose snapping mechanism could find applications in sensors, artificial
muscles, and biomedical devices.
• Sean Gart, Virginia Tech,
will discuss harvesting electric energy from rain using a setup that
mimics the process of raindrops hitting leaves.
• Alexandre
Ponomarenko, Grenoble University, will discuss new developments to track
down the source of crackling emitted by trees suffering from drought.
Thursday, March 21, 11:00 a.m. EST
CREEPY CRAWLIES: FROM REMOTE-CONTROLLED WORMS TO SYNTHETIC CILIA
Panelists:
•
Askin Kocabas, Harvard University, will present work to
manipulate the neural activity of free-moving C. elegans worms using
light.
• Timothy Sanchez, Brandeis University, will discuss
synthetic cilia and other biomimetic phenomena that his team has
developed using simple, self-organizing biological components (such as
microtubules and clusters of motor proteins). The group has also used
their techniques to engineer new materials with functions not seen in
nature, like flowing liquid crystals and self-propelled emulsion
droplets.
• Daria Monaenkova, Georgia Institute of Technology,
will discuss new research that can be used to better understand the
behaviors of fire ants, an invasive species in the United States. The
work examines the relationship between wetness of soil and ants’ digging
strategies for nest construction.
• Nick Gravish, Georgia
Institute of Technology, will dig deeper into fire ants’ nest design
strategies with a talk about their underground tunneling tactics, and
how tunnel size helps ants keep their footing when the animals are
perturbed.
Thursday, March 21, 1:00 p.m. EST
QUANTUM ISSUES: BLACK HOLES, THE REALITY OF THE WAVEFUNCTION, AND WHY SPACE IS 3-D
Panelists:
•
Christoph Adami, Michigan State University, tackles a
particularly challenging problem at the intersection of quantum
mechanics and relativity: if information is absorbed by a black hole,
which then subsequently evaporates, what happens to the information?
Adami and colleagues have found what they believe to be a solution to
the information paradox posed by black holes, which in turn implies that
black holes can act as nearly perfect “quantum copying machines.”
•
Renato Renner, ETH Zurich, has turned to another long-standing
puzzle – whether or not the wave-function of quantum mechanics is real
or simply a handy calculating tool. Renner’s research addresses deep
philosophical issues in physics as well as confirming the effectiveness
of quantum-based cryptographic schemes.
• Markus Mueller,
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, presents a new take on the
old question of why space is 3-dimensional, and suggests an answer based
on modern quantum information theory.
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MORE INFORMATION FOR JOURNALISTS
• General Meeting Information: http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/index.cfm
• Searchable Abstracts: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR13/APS_epitome
ABOUT APS
The American Physical Society (www.aps.org )
is a non-profit membership organization working to advance and diffuse
the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals,
scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy and international
activities. APS represents 50,000 members, including physicists in
academia, national laboratories and industry in the United States and
throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, MD
(Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, DC.
