Saturday Physics for Everyone
When engineers build machines, they must make decisions about performance. For example, designing an internal combustion engine involves choosing between efficiency (a Prius) and power (a Porsche). Engineers can’t have it all! Amazingly, biological evolution involves the same type of constraints—often called “trade-offs.” I will talk about how we tried to evolve bacteria to grow fast and swim fast in my lab. Surprisingly, bacteria cannot do both and must, like an engineer, choose between fast growth and fast swimming. I will discuss when and why bacteria choose a Porsche over a Prius, or a Prius over a Porsche.
| Title | Even Evolution Can't Have it All |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Professor Seppe Kuehn, Department of Physics, University of Illinois |
| Date: | 12/1/2018 |
| Time: | 10:15 a.m. |
| Location: | 141 Loomis Laboratory |
| Sponsor: | Department of Physics |
| Originating Calendar: | Physics - Saturday Physics for Everyone |
| Abstract: | When engineers build machines, they must make decisions about performance. For example, designing an internal combustion engine involves choosing between efficiency (a Prius) and power (a Porsche). Engineers can’t have it all! Amazingly, biological evolution involves the same type of constraints—often called “trade-offs.” I will talk about how we tried to evolve bacteria to grow fast and swim fast in my lab. Surprisingly, bacteria cannot do both and must, like an engineer, choose between fast growth and fast swimming. I will discuss when and why bacteria choose a Porsche over a Prius, or a Prius over a Porsche.
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