Fungal networks and the wave nature of life Science & Cocktails: Fungal networks and the wave nature of life
How do mycelial networks of a fungus - a brainless organism - manage to exhibit seemingly sentient behaviors? How can biological populations be described - seemingly contradictory - both as particles (individual agents exhibiting seemingly random behavior) and as waves (migrating fronts of population density)?
In this talk, Tom Shimizu will explore the dynamics of biological waves and particles, and propose that this particle-wave duality ought to be taken as seriously as its more famous counterpart and core idea in quantum physics. Shimizu will give examples of how precise experiments that quantify the behavior of a variety of biological populations can open unexpected windows into the broader science of emergence, which aims to uncover general principles of collective organization in nature across scales of space and time. As an illustrative example with real-world impact, he will describe recent work building robots to quantify the behavior of mycorrhizal fungi. These unique yet ubiquitous soil organisms form vast underground networks for symbiotic nutrient exchange that supports terrestrial ecosystems across our planet, and help regulate global climate.
This event is an initiative by the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) with the support of the University of Amsterdam. Science & Cocktails Amsterdam is presented in cooperation with Paradiso Amsterdam
Talk by
Tom Shimizu
Thomas Shimizu is Group Leader at AMOLF and Professor of Physics at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam. His research focuses on the physics of biological behavior across scales, from molecules to cells to organisms and populations. He is the recipient of an NWO VIDI grant (2011), an Allen Distinguished Investigator Award (2013), and has led a Netherlands-wide consortium investigating the origins of stochasticity in organism-scale behavior funded by a NWO/FOM Program Grant (2016-2021). His lab develops innovative biophysical experiments to quantify complex biological behaviors, and combines computational analyses with theoretical modeling to understand them. In recent years, his lab has been building bespoke robots that make visible previously unseen behaviors of mycorrhizal fungi - symbiotic soil organisms that support much of life on Earth.
Music by
Schau Schau
Schau Schau is quite new, but with familiar faces from the Groningen music scene. It’s the pandemic year of 2020, the world is in lockdown, and even in Vera Groningen, it’s eerily quiet. Kalle Wolters and Maarten Huizing are searching for meaning and missing each other; they miss making music together like they used to in their old band Kinoo. And there it is, Schau Schau is born, building on the wavy post-punk that both excel in, but with a slightly more rhythm-oriented approach and a good dash of the ’80s.
