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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20261014T200623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140922T142606Z
DTSTART:20140923T193000Z
DTEND:20140923T203000Z
UID:event1321@bu.edu
URL:http://physics.bu.edu/internal/events/show/1321
SUMMARY:Microscale propulsion in biological and engineered systems
DESCRIPTION:Featuring Henry Fu\, University of Nevada\, Reno\nHosted by: Ra
	ma Bansil\nPoster: http://physics.bu.edu/internal//files/get/092314-fu.pdf\
	n\nPart of the Physics Department Colloquia Series.\n\nAbstract:\nIn this t
	alk\, I begin by describing some of the nonintuitive features of the hydrod
	ynamics of microscale objects and organisms.  Then I provide two examples s
	howing how this type of hydrodynamics affects biological locomotion and eng
	ineered propulsion.  In the first example\, we examine swimming microorgani
	sms such as sperm\, algae\, or bacteria.  In biological scenarios\, these o
	rganisms may navigate environments such as mucus\, which have microstructur
	al lengthscales similar to the organisms' size.  Thus\, they may be viewed 
	as swimming through a heterogeneous "obstacle course" rather than a simple 
	continuum fluid.  I will describe a fundamental difference that arises from
	 swimming through such a heterogeneous medium as compared to a continuum fl
	uid: the heterogeneity leads to fluctuations in swimming speeds which refle
	cts the microstructure.  In the second example\, we examine engineered magn
	etic artificial microswimmers which can be propelled by rotating them using
	 a rotating magnetic field.  Such microswimmers have been investigated for 
	possible biomedical applications.  I will describe our recent work which el
	ucidates the minimal geometries that are required to achieve propulsion for
	 such swimmers.  Notably\, we find that contrary to common biomimetically-i
	nspired expectations\, even achiral rigid geometries can be propelled by ro
	tating magnetic fields.
LOCATION:SCI 109\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CLASS:PUBLIC
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