We have been working on an active matter game! If you want to challenge your colleagues or family members to a game and have them learn about active matter look no further!
The active matter game has been designed over the course of the ITN as a new outreach activity that everyone can print at home. It has been rigorously tested at almost every Active Matter Meeting. It took a few revisions but we have made a fun game for all ages. You can read all about it in the supplementary info of the new Active Matter book.
The game has been developed and finalised by Alireza Khoshzaban, Carolina van Baalen, David Bronte Ciriza, Davide Breoni, Jesús Manuel Antúnez Domínguez, Laura Natali and Sandrine Heijnen.
You only have to wait until the release date till everything will be online! We can’t wait to share it with you!
Tag: Laura Natali
Laura Natali participated in the Ämnets dag at the University of Gothenburg
On Tuesday 1 November 2022 the event called “Ämnets dag” took place at the university of Gothenburg.
The event is aimed to physics and science teachers at different school levels working in the Gothenburg area. Laura Natali joined the initiative and organised one of the workshops available. The activity prepared was an introductory class to simulations modelling active matter.
The workshop addressed the basic aspects of active matter and some examples of its relevant applications nowadays. The focus was on a hands-on workshop, to try out simulations and give a qualitative idea of active behaviour and the effect of different parameters on it. Next to the simulated active particles, it was also possible to play with Hexbugs a simple robotic example of active matter.
Stay tuned for more activities like this!
Laura Natali and David Bronte Ciriza presented an effective communication activity in Lisbon
During the ActiveMatter meeting in Lisbon, Laura Natali and David Bronte Ciriza proposed a two hours activity on the fundamentals of effective communication. The activity was structured in an interactive way, and it began with a open discussion about the importance of communication, especially in science.
Then, the ESRs briefly described their research in a popular science style, so addressed to a broader public. The first hour concluded with a presentation about rules to keep in mind while communicating both in oral and written form.
Afterwards, a few examples among the written texts were selected and discussed with all the participants. The aim was to exchange feedback and suggestions on how to make the communication more effective. The feedback was the inspiration for everyone to review their communication example, and the final versions are being uploaded on the official twitter account @ActiveMatterITN.
Laura Natali and Jesús Domínguez participate in the Ämnets dag at the University of Gothenburg
On Tuesday 2 November 2021 the Ämnets dag took place at the university of Gothenburg.
At the Ämnets dag, different high-school teachers of physics and science were given the chance to attend different workshops dealing with lines of research inside the Physics department. Laura Natali and Jesus Manuel Antunez Dominguez joined the initiative and prepared an introductory class to simulations modelling active matter.
The workshop addressed the basic aspects of active matter and some examples of its relevant applications nowadays. Overall, the focus of the workshop was to bring closer some of the main characteristics of active matter through interactive simulations that give a qualitative idea of active behaviour and the effect of different parameters on it.
Stay tuned for more activities like this!
Round Table on the Universality of Active Matter: from Biology to Man-made Models
On the 20th of September, the last round table of the Initial Training on Theoretical Methods took place. The discussion was let by the ESRs David, Sandrine, Liam, Carolina, Danne, and Laura. We were excited by the presence of an inspiring panel composed of Felix Ritort, Roberto Cerbino, Kirsty Wan, Fabio Giavazzi, Bernhard Mehlig, and François Nédélec.
The quote “If a system is in equilibrium, it’s probably death” ignited a lively and dynamic discussion around the topic of this final round table: “The universality of active matter: From biology to man-made models.”
Several topics were discussed ranging from active matter length scales and entropy production, to the equipartition theorem and universality. The session left us pondering about the definition of active matter: From single cells to the galaxy, where does the definition of active matter end? Our panelists conclude that it all depend on the question we ask ourselves. The round table was closed with a highlight of the most interesting avenues and opportunities in active matter, including the merge information and activity, realization of in vivo systems, as well as the manipulation of soft matter systems. Some inspiring words from one of the panelists let us realize: “We are the future of active matter.”
Round Table Discussion on Introduction to Theoretical Active Matter
The first round table in the theoretical training gave a chance to start an interesting discussion which will continue in the following meetings.
The organizing ESRs were Ayten Gülce Bayram, Laura Natali, Liam Ruske, Jérémie Bertrand, Davide Breoni and Audrey Nsamela. They welcomed and introduced the three guests of the session: Nuno Araújo from the University of Lisbon, Jan Wehr from the University of Arizona and Denis Bartolo from École normale supérieure de Lyon.
The round table started with a personal question to the speakers about their interests and motivations for working in theoretical active matter. Having different backgrounds, the answers were very different, Nuno was attracted by non-intuitive behaviors observed in active matter experiments, while Jan started from a purely mathematical point of view and then moved towards physics of active systems. Denis provided another motivation, being head of a lab that deals with both theory and experiments.
The following discussion focused on the interaction and hierarchy between theory, simulations, and experiments. They all agree that establishing a constructive collaboration with experimental groups is not easy, but at the same time, it can have many benefits for both sides. However, none of the three elements is necessary for the others: a good paper can be presenting a theory not connected with experiments, even if its possible applications are not foreseeable yet. Denis firmly pointed out the difference between the observations and the tools (theoretical, numerical, and experimental) employed to explain it.
We also had a few more specific questions for the speakers, such as the distinctions in thinking between mathematicians and theoretical physicists, the possible applications to financial markets, and the differences in modeling artificial flocks and human crowds, which are often controlled by non-hydrodynamic variables.
We concluded the meeting by asking every one of our guests their tips for communicating the theory of active matter to a larger public. Here the answers were more relaxed and can be summed up as: trying to avoid technical and mathematical details while explaining the importance of the research problems, also using more familiar examples such as simulations employed in animation movies.
The Active Matter network has a new logo !
With a joint effort of the ESR students, a new logo for the ActiveMatter website was designed. The idea started as a handdrawing on a piece of paper and was quickly adapted to a better version with drawing softwares. More than 15 logos were suggested and submitted to a vote. The competition was fierce but we all came to agree on one of them and we are happy to present you the new official logo of the ITN ActiveMatter !
Press release on Machine learning can help slow down future pandemics
The article Improving epidemic testing and containment strategies using machine learning has been featured in the News of the Faculty of Science of Gothenburg University.
Here the links to the press releases:
Swedish: Maskininlärning kan bidra till att bromsa framtida pandemier
English: Machine learning can help slow down future pandemics
Round Table Discussion on: Collective Behavior
The fourth roundtable was an opportunity for all students to discuss the topic “Collective Behavior” on Zoom with a panel of guests: Clemens Bechinger from the University of Konstanz, Ivo Buttinoni from Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf and Caroline Beck Adiels from Gothenburg University. The event was organized by Daniela Pérez, Danne van Roon, Davide Breoni, Jérémie Bertrand, Laura Natali and Liam Ruske on March 24th.
Although the guests had different background they seemed to agree on the fact that complex behavior can emerge from an ensemble of entities that obey a small number of simple rules. Indeed, minimalistic models such as the Vicsek model account for phase transition from a disordered motion to large scale motion and more; phenomena that appear to be universal.
A question on the role of intelligence and communication in collective behavior started the discussion. Although some animals or colony of bacteria may seem intelligent (e.g. escaping from a predator in a clever way or making long-lasting symbiotic microfilms), we must bear in mind that collective behavior is… collective, and rarely arises from decisions made individually. It may be said that in the animal kingdom, the need for survival requires a need to adapt and therefore to be intelligent, but this need for intelligence can be outsourced and solved at the level of the group rather than hardwired in the physical brain of each animal (or human).
It is also conceivable that one of the entities acts as a leader and ignites a collective behavior. Giovanni Volpe made an interesting remark, stating that a leader is the one who defines the objective function to be optimized by the group. The idea of leadership in collective behavior of microscopic systems remain largely unexplored by physicists.
After one hour of fruitful discussion and back and forth between the students and the guests, the session was finished and we resumed our activities with a better understanding of collective behavior. We thank the panelists for their inputs and attendance!
Improving epidemic testing and containment strategies using machine learning accepted in Machine Learning: Science and Technology
Improving epidemic testing and containment strategies using machine learning
Laura Natali, Saga Helgadottir, Onofrio M. Maragò, Giovanni Volpe
Machine Learning: Science and Technology (2021)
doi: 10.1088/2632-2153/abf0f7
arXiv: 2011.11717
Containment of epidemic outbreaks entails great societal and economic costs. Cost-effective containment strategies rely on efficiently identifying infected individuals, making the best possible use of the available testing resources. Therefore, quickly identifying the optimal testing strategy is of critical importance. Here, we demonstrate that machine learning can be used to identify which individuals are most beneficial to test, automatically and dynamically adapting the testing strategy to the characteristics of the disease outbreak. Specifically, we simulate an outbreak using the archetypal susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model and we use data about the first confirmed cases to train a neural network that learns to make predictions about the rest of the population. Using these prediction, we manage to contain the outbreak more effectively and more quickly than with standard approaches. Furthermore, we demonstrate how this method can be used also when there is a possibility of reinfection (SIRS model) to efficiently eradicate an endemic disease.