1. Active Matter: "Evading the Decay to Equilibrium"
Life defies equilibrium. Within each cell, nanoscale motors transport molecules with remarkable precision, while groups of cells self-organize into complex structures, shaping the growth of animals and plants from a single cell. This energy-driven organization extends to larger scales too, in the synchronised motion of shoaling fish, flocking starlings, and the flow of human crowds.
Active systems, driven by energy input at the level of individual particles, also exist out of thermodynamic equilibrium. Dense active matter shows distinctive collective behaviour: active turbulence, motile topological defects and co-ordinated flows.
The physics of active matter is offering fresh perspectives on mechanobiology and developmental biology: from pattern formation in bacterial colonies, to the distribution of lesions in invasive breast cancer and the dynamics of epithelial cells.
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