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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
We can breathe in dusty environments, without choking, and we are usually not infected by the vast numbers of bacteria that we inhale in a typical day. This is thanks to a carpet of microscopic and actively driven filaments that lines our airways, the cilia. This carpet keeps a constantly refreshed clean layer of fluid, commonly known as the mucus, in motion. We cough, sometimes, as a response to cilia not working properly, which can be a result of an infection. Some people have severe diseases that permanently affect this important function. Why do we look at this in the context of Physics? Even in healthy people, it is not clear how the cilia manage to coordinate their beating. Coordination is essential, imagine the difference a good cox can make to a rowing crew. The cilia manage, spontaneously, to coordinate their dynamics over a scale of millions of individual filaments, to form long ranged waves of rowers. We need an understanding of the physics of synchronisation, together with fluid dynamics, and knowledge from cell biology, to piece this puzzle together.
Host: William Hlavacek